The line-up for the 2012 American Songbook series from Lincoln Center has been announced, and among the artists performing are mandolinist Chris Thile and guitarist Michael Daves. The duo will perform songs from their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open, at The Allen Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall, overlooking New York's Central Park, on Thursday, January 12. Tickets are go on sale to the general public on November 14. Friends of Lincoln Center will be given early access on November 3. 

Chris Thile and Michael Daves are featured on the latest episode of the weekly radio show Acoustic Café. On the show, Thile and Daves talks with host Rob Reinhart about their album, Sleep with One Eye Open, and play songs from the album live in studio. Thile and his fellow Punch Brothers performed at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park this past weekend; the band will support Paul Simon on tour this November.

Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile have spent the past week in Europe on separate solo tours. The two come together for a special duo show at Wigmore Hall in London tonight, as part of the pianist's curatorship of the venue's Jazz Series. "Mehldau often applies his hypnotic improv approach to Broadway standards, bebop, folk-pop classics or the music of Radiohead," says the Guardian, "and Thile's fast-flowing long lines, and cherishing of catchy themes within the loosest spontaneous flights fit that very compatibly." Also in the Guardian, Mehldau has written an article on wisdom in music.

Chris Thile launches his solo tour of the UK and Ireland with a concert at Borderline in London tonight. The tour includes songs from Thile's duo album with guitarist Michael Daves, Sleep with One Eye Open. Today also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe, whose songs are featured on Sleep with One Eye Open; Thile spoke with NPR's All Things Considered for a piece celebrating the occasion. NPR counts Thile and Daves "among the hot young pickers" carrying on the tradition set by the Monroe Brothers.

Brad Mehldau, whose new album with pianist Kevin Hays and composer/arranger Patrick Zimmerli, Modern Music, is due out on September 20, launches a brief solo tour of Europe at the Montlouis Jazz Festival in France tonight. Label mate Chris Thile launches his own solo tour as well. Along the way, the two will meet up for a very special duo concert with at London's Wigmore Hall, part of the jazz series Mehldau has curated there. Michael Daves, who was due to join Thile on tour, is unable to do so due to an illness in the family.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves, while in Newport for what NPR called a "sizzling set" at the Newport Folk Festival last month, took some time out to perform two songs for Paste—"Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," off their album Sleep with One Eye Open, and another traditional tune, "Darlin' Corey"—now available to watch in the latest issue of Paste's online mPlayer. Thile and Daves are on the road again next month, touring the Midwest, UK, and Ireland, following Thile's current tour with Punch Brothers.

This past weekend, the Newport Folk Festival offered the sold-out crowd two beautiful summer days of music from performers including the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves. You can now listen to all of those sets online at NPR Music, from the ever "vital and contemporary" Harris to the "blazingly intense music" of Thile & Daves. The Boston Globe says that all the music proved "compelling and indebted to what preceded it."

Newport music festival season gets under way this weekend, when the Newport Folk Festival returns, featuring several Nonesuch artists: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Emmylou Harris, Wanda Jackson, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves, plus Sara Watkins with the Decemberists and a special benefit performance by The Low Anthem. James Farm will play the following weekend's Newport Jazz Festival. NPR Music will be broadcasting and webcasting full concerts throughout each event.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves are set to tour the UK and Ireland in September in support of their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open. The tour begins in London on September 13 and includes concerts in Dublin, Cork, Liverpool, and Sheffield. Thile will also join Brad Mehldau in a special concert at London’s Wigmore Hall on September 16, where they will perform as a duo. Before then, Thile and Daves have a few duo performances in the States, starting with this Sunday's performance at the Newport Folk Festival.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET, performing songs from their debut duo album, Sleep With One Eye Open, before a live audience at the Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Also performing are the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The show is sold-out and will be webcast live. The New Yorker, in a preview of their show at The Bell House in Brooklyn tonight, says: "Expect the pair to deliver a high-spirited bluegrass-infused performance full of inspired harmonies."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have a number of live performances in the coming weeks, starting with a set at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival this Thursday. Audiophile Audition gives their album Sleep with One Eye Open a perfect five stars, saying: "If the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack raised the mainstream awareness of bluegrass, then Sleep with One Eye Open delivers on its promise." Sequenza21 calls it "beautifully simple ... an object lesson in how to do it right."

Chris Thile and Michael Daves' next live duo set is slated for mid-July at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, with Thile touring with Punch Brothers until then. In the mean time, you can watch videos of the duo perform five songs off their recently released Nonesuch album, Sleep with One Eye Open, in a session at the Paste offices that "captured two musicians who continue to be at the top of their game."