Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price and Mike Calabrese are on the Environmental Defense Fund's Degrees podcast, which has as its theme song the band's 2018 tune "Shame, Shame, Shame." They discuss the challenges of being a green band and the intersection of art and activism, including the climate-change focused song "Making Do," from their latest album, Obviously. "Full disclosure," says host Yesh Pavlik Slenk: "I have producers making sure I stay objective here, because Lake Street Dive is my very favorite band." You can hear their conversation here.

Jeremy Denk will publish a memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine, via Random House on February 22. In the book, Denk traces his implausible artistic journey and sets out to relay the most meaningful lessons he has received, and to repay the debt of all his teachers. “The performer has two tasks,” he writes. “One is to do what’s written in the score—incredibly important—and the other, even more important, is to do everything that’s not.”

Ben LaMar Gay has released “Oh Great Be the Lake," the second single from his upcoming new album Open Arms to Open Us, out November 19 on International Anthem / Nonesuch. The new track is a ballad penned by Gay to his memories of jumping off the rocks into Lake Michigan on Chicago’s Southside; you can watch the video by Chris Strong here. Supported by delicate, minimal flute accents by Rob Frye and wordless backing vocals by Ayanna Woods, Gay croons encouragingly, repeatedly: “Learn how to swim.” This song also birthed the album title, which is taken from the lyrics in the second verse.

Pitchfork, in celebration of its 25th anniversary, has published a list of 'The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork’s First 25 Years,' including Wilco, The Magnetic Fields, Conor Oberst, Fleet Foxes, and Björk.

"A Gradual Dazzle," from Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion's new album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and the poem it sets, Anne Carson's "Room in Brooklyn," are the subject of the latest episode of the podcast Resounding Verse. You can hear it here. "Caroline Shaw is one of my favorite young composers," says host Stephen Rodgers. The new album "is a series of intimate, haunting, beautiful songs."

Steve Reich will publish Conversations, a new book, via HarperCollins' Hanover Square Press, on March 8, 2022. In the book, the composer speaks with collaborators, fellow composers, musicians, and visual artists influenced by his work—including Nonesuch Records Chairman Emeritus Robert Hurwitz, Jonny Greenwood, Kronos Quartet's David Harrington, Stephen Sondheim, Nico Muhly, Brian Eno, Michael Gordon, and others—to reflect on his prolific career as a composer as well as the music that inspired him and that has been inspired by him. The New York Times calls it "a surprising, enlightening series of conversations that shed new light on the music and career of 'our greatest living composer.'" The New Yorker says: "Through this series of insightful, wide-ranging conversations starting from his student days to the present pandemic, we gain a compelling glimpse into the mind of 'the most original musical thinker of our time.'"

The Staves, currently on tour in the UK, have released a stripped down, alternate version of "Best Friend," a song from their new album, Good Woman; it is the second in their Be Kind series of special singles, following a new version of the album's title track. "We went into the studio with the wonderfully talented Marcus Hamblett (our bandmate and long-time collaborator) with the intention of revisiting some of the songs from Good Woman, to explore some of the more soft and tender parts that are there," the band says. The Staves will bring their tour to North America in early 2022. 

Punch Brothers’ newest album, Hell on Church Street, is due January 14, on Nonesuch Records. It is the band’s reimagining of, and homage to, the late bluegrass great Tony Rice’s landmark solo album Church Street Blues, with songs by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Monroe, and others. Preorders from the Nonesuch and Punch Brothers stores include a limited-edition print signed by the band while supplies last. An in-the-studio video of the band playing “Church Street Blues” may be seen here. Punch Brothers tour North America in support of the album beginning in January, with show in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston, and many more.

David Byrne and the cast of American Utopia helped open The Tony Awards Present: Broadway's Back! on CBS last night with a performance of the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House," a favorite from the Broadway production. You can watch it here. The show had received a special award at the Tony Awards ceremony earlier in the evening. Tickets are on sale now for David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.

David Byrne was on CBS Sunday Morning today to share his thoughts on the importance of collective rituals like concerts and theatre, which have been curtailed during the pandemic, and how their return is an important part of healing. You can watch it here. David Byrne's American Utopia, which recently returned to the Broadway stage, will receive a Special Tony Award at the Tony Awards ceremony hosted by Audra McDonald on Paramount+ tonight, after which Byrne and the cast will perform on The Tony Awards Present Broadway's Back! on CBS.

Lake Street Dive's Bridget Kearney and Mike Calabrese are the guests on the latest episode of the podcast Walking the Floor. The talk with host Chris Shiflett about the band's new album, Obviously, in a conversation recorded around its release back in the spring. You can hear the episode here. Lake Street Dive is currently on tour in the US.

The largest-ever US exhibition of artwork by Laurie Anderson opens at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, this Friday and runs through July 31, 2022. Laurie Anderson: The Weather will debut more than ten new artworks, interspersed with select key pieces from throughout her career, featuring her work in video, performance, installation, painting, and other media. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of live performances by Anderson, January–July 2022.