The Denver Botanic Gardens has announced its 2017 Summer Concert Series lineup, and among the artists performing are Punch Brothers on June 13; Natalie Merchant performing her 3 Decades of Song program on July 12; and Randy Newman on August 7.

Punch Brothers and I'm With Her (Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan) join forces this summer for the American Acoustic US tour, with dates at the Newport Folk Festival, Wolf Trap, NYC's Beacon Theatre, and more. Guitarist Julian Lage joins the bands, which will play a mix of featured sets and collaborations, as a special guest. Tickets for most shows go on sale Friday, March 10.

Chris Thile, who will take over for Garrison Keillor as the new host of the beloved public radio program A Prairie Home Companion this fall, has announced a few of the musicians who will join him as the show's house band, along with pianist Rich Dworsky. Among them are two of Thile's fellow Punch Brothers: Chris Eldridge on guitar and Paul Kowert on bass. You can watch Thile give a snapshot of the house band in the video from the show here. Thile will host the new season of A Prairie Home Companion beginning on October 15.

Punch Brothers launch an eight-date tour of Japan and Australia on Wednesday. The tour begins with a three-night, multi-set residency at Blue Note Tokyo, followed by a full five-city run in Australia, including stops at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Center in Brisbane, Adelaide International Guitar Festival, City Recital Hall in Sydney, and Melbourne Recital Centre.

Congratulations to Punch Brothers, who have been nominated for a 2016 International Bluegrass Music Award for Instrumental Group of the Year. Nominees also include individual nods to band members Noam Pikelny ("Pickles"), up for Banjo Player of the Year (he won the award in 2014), and Chris Eldridge ("Critter"), up for Guitar Player of the Year. Winners will be announced at the International Bluegrass Music Awards on September 29 at the Duke Energy Performing Arts Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

American Acoustic, a Chris Thile–curated festival at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, gets under way this evening and runs through Saturday. The performances feature collaborations between Thile and performers including Punch Brothers, Michael Daves, Edgar Meyer, and others. "One of the thesis statements of the week is going to be to look beyond genre and examine and celebrate the similarities between great instances of music making, rather than the differences," Thile tells the Washington Post.

Punch Brothers kick off a two-week US tour at the Charleston Music Hall in South Carolina on Friday. The tour will take the band across the South, including a set at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and stops in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, before heading north to Philadelphia and Cambridge, and to the Midwest for a night in Milwaukee and two in Chicago. Gabriel Kahane supports. The band plays several summer festival dates, including a Chris Thile–curated festival at The Kennedy Center, and heads to Japan and Australia in August.

Punch Brothers have announced several shows in Japan and Australia for this August, starting with a three-night residency at Blue Note Tokyo August 3–5, followed by a tour of Australia: in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne. Tickets are on sale now. The new dates follow the band's US spring tour, which begins in a double bill with Dave Rawlings Machine in Charleston on April 29 and includes sets at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and much more.

Punch Brothers have announced a US tour in May. The two-week headline tour kicks off with a concert at Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville and makes stops in Birmingham, Athens, Cambridge, and Milwaukee, culminating in two nights at Chicago's Thalia Hall on May 13 and 14. Those dates follow a concert with Dave Rawlings Machine in Charleston on April 29 and a set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 1. The band will also take part in the MusicNOW, Huck Finn Jubilee, Telluride Bluegrass, Oregon Bach, and RockyGrass festivals in the months ahead.

The line-up for the 2016 MusicNOW Festival in Cincinnati has been announced, and among the performers are Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, and Sam Amidon. The three-day festival, founded by artistic director Bryce Dessner, will take place March 18–20. Kronos Quartet will join the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for performances at Cincinnati's Music Hall the first two nights of the festival, performing works by Julia Wolfe and Terry Riley. Chris Thile closes out Friday night's program with a solo set and joins his fellow Punch Brothers to close out the weekend at the Cincinnati Masonic Center Auditorium on Sunday with Sam Amidon.

The line-up for the 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and included among this year's performers are Rhiannon Giddens (April 24) and Punch Brothers (May 1). Jazz Fest runs over seven days across two weekends, April 22–24 and April 28–May 1. The festival will pay tribute to one of the Crescent City's favorite sons, Allen Toussaint, hosted by the Allen Toussaint Band with special guests.

Emmylou Harris, Punch Brothers, and Chris Thile will be among the performers at the 43rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, taking place June 16–19, 2016, the weekend before the summer solstice. The preliminary lineup for the much-loved southwestern Colorado event was announced earlier today, just before the winter solstice.