Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Molly Tuttle's new solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce, marks a sonic departure from her recent work. The album of eleven originals and one cover (Icona Pop and Charli xcx’s “I Love It”) is a hybrid of pop, country, rock, and flat-picking, plus a murder ballad. Her virtuoso guitar work takes center stage on this album more than ever, and for the first time, she introduces her banjo playing into two of her recordings.

Brad Mehldau’s Ride into the Sun—a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, guitarist Elliott Smith—features performances by singer-guitarist Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear, singer-mandolinist Chris Thile, bassists Felix Moseholm and John Davis, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman. Its ten Smith songs are complemented by four Mehldau compositions inspired by him and interpretations of Big Star’s "Thirteen" and Nick Drake's "Sunday."

About Ghosts features eight new compositions by guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson, performed with her sextet Amaryllis, the improvisatory band featured on her critically praised albums Amaryllis, Belladonna, and Cloudward: Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet). Saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles join the ensemble on five tunes, and Halvorson adds Pocket Piano synthesizer overdubs on a number of tracks. The album was produced and mixed by Deerhoof's John Dieterich.

Rhiannon Giddens reunites with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops bandmate Justin Robinson on What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow. Produced by Giddens and Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette, the album features Giddens on banjo and Robinson on fiddle, playing eighteen of their favorite North Carolina tunes. Many were learned from their late mentor, legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson; one is from another musical hero, the late Etta Baker. Giddens and Robinson recorded outdoors at Thompson’s and Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House, accompanied by the sounds of nature.

Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Oh Snap comprises 12 very personal songs by the singer/composer (plus a cover of a verse from the Commodores’ 1977 hit “Brick House”) mostly recorded outside of a traditional studio environment. The songs showcase her genre-spanning tastes and influences from her 1990s childhood in Miami—from boy bands to grunge to classical to folk—and include party tracks with beats, samba grooves, and quiet folk songs. The album features longtime collaborators Sullivan Fortner, Yasushi Nakamura, and Kyle Poole, plus cameos from singers June McDoom and Kate Davis.