"Sam Amidon is one of the most open-minded artists I know," says pianist/composer Pablo Held of his latest Investigates podcast guest. "Right away I was struck not only by his beautiful music, I was also amazed by the vast range of things he welcomes into his world. Every Sam Amidon album is a winner." You can watch their extensive conversation here.

Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers' Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert is out now on Nonesuch. The album features the 1990 Nashville debut of the acoustic all-star group—Sam Bush, Roy Huskey Jr., Larry Atamanuik, Al Perkins, Jon Randall Stewart—at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). The concert was recorded and shelved until now, when it has been unearthed and will be released for the first time. The set features entirely different songs from the band's acclaimed live album At the Ryman, with music by A.P. Carter, Rodney Crowell, Ruth Franks, the Louvin Brothers, Doc Pomus, Paul Simon, Townes Van Zandt, and Harris herself. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive print autographed by Harris, while they last. You can watch the band's 1993 Austin City Limits performance of three album tracks here.

Nonesuch Records releases a two-track digital single from Sam Gendel today that includes his interpretations of Duke Ellington's "Isfahan" and Cal Massey's "My Little Suede Shoes" (a song popularized by Charlie Parker), performed in the manner of the sonic construction/destruction from his 2020 album Satin Doll. Gendel is joined by Gabe Noel on electric bass and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion.

The Staves performed "Best Friend," from their new album, Good Woman, for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's online series Play at Home. The video was filmed at Snap Studios in London. You can watch it here.

The Staves perform an NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert of four songs from their new album, Good Woman—"Nothing's Gonna Happen," "Good Woman," "Satisfied," and "Waiting on Me to Change"—from the kitchen of their childhood home in Watford, England, for NPR Music. Sisters Emily, Jessica, and Camilla Staveley-Taylor are joined by guitarist and horn player Marcus Hamblett for the set, which you can watch here. NPR Music's Bob Boilen says: "This stripped-down performance is a beautiful way to experience these sisters' gorgeous harmonies through their songs of strength, loss, life, and womanhood."

The Staves have announced a tour of North America for early 2022, featuring songs from their new album, Good Woman. The tour begins in Dallas on February 9, heading across the South, up the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast, up to Canada, back down the US Midwest, over to the Pacific Northwest, and down to California, culminating at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on March 15. "We are beyond thrilled to announce that we will be coming to you in 2022!! We can’t wait to take Good Woman on the road to a town near you!"

Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price, Punch Brothers, and Gaby Moreno are among the artists who will perform at The Kennedy Center's 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert, hosted by Audra McDonald with special guest Caroline Kennedy on September 14. The event will be broadcast on PBS as The Kennedy Center at 50 on October 1. Other performers include Christian McBride, Ben Folds, Kelli O'Hara, Renée Fleming, and more. 

"The icon that is k.d. lang was on the first ever list of dream guests for this podcast and remarkably this week our dream came true," says Chris Sweeney, co-host, with Alan Cumming, of the podcast Homo Sapiens. lang spoke with Sweeney about her role as an LGBTQ+ pioneer and how things have changed since she came out publicly in the 1990s. They also discuss makeover, her recently released collection of classic dance remixes, which Sweeney calls "totally brilliant." You can hear their conversation here.

Joshua Redman and Cécile McLorin Salvant are among the artists to contribute tracks to Relief, a compilation of previously unreleased music to benefit Jazz Foundation of America, due November 12. Redman's track "Facts," from the sessions for his 2018 Nonesuch album Still Dreaming, with cornetist Ron Miles, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade, was released today and can be heard here. All net proceeds from Relief will go to JFA's Musicians’ Emergency Fund, which provides direct financial support to musicians in need. 

The Spike Lee–directed feature David Byrne's American Utopia will receive its US theatrical debut on Wednesday, September 15, in movie theaters nationwide for a special, one-night-only event. This event will also include an introduction by David Byrne and a never-before-seen conversation with Byrne and Lee. David Byrne's American Utopia returns to Broadway September 17. Tickets for both are on sale now.

The Black Keys have released the official music video for "Poor Boy a Long Way From Home," an R.L. Burnside tune they perform on their new album, Delta Kream. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are joined by Kenny Brown on guitar and Eric Deaton on bass, both long-time members of the bands of blues legends including Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The video was directed by Ryan Nadzam and filmed in Mississippi at Jimmy Duck Holmes’ Blue Front Café, the oldest active juke joint in America. You can watch it here.

Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers have released their performance of Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams," from their upcoming album, Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert, due September 3. You can hear the album version, recorded live in concert at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville in 1990, and watch their performance of the song on Austin City Limits in 1993 here. You can also download the album version, along with the previously released "Roses in the Snow," when you pre-order Ramble in Music City.