With just over four weeks left until election day in the United States, November 4, a number of Nonesuch Records artists will be participating in some very special campaign events. This Monday, k.d. lang will perform at an intimate, in-home fund-raising concert for Obama in New York City with Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Joseph Biden, and renowned chef Alice Waters. The following evening in New York, composer Ricky Ian Gordon and Tony Award–winning actress Victoria Clark perform at a stellar Obama/Biden fund-raiser at the home of television producer Tom Fontana. On October 10, Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile perform works by Bach as well as their own works at an Obama benefit concert at New York's Poisson Rouge.

Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer's tour in support of their new, debut duo album continues in California this weekend, including a stop in San Diego on Sunday. The San Diego Union-Tribune says of Thile: "I can't think of any other mandolinist who is more talented or consistently innovative ... [He] is a master of his instrument who rarely fails to inspire or elevate his listeners." It goes on to praise the new album as "an all-instrumental gem that never sacrifices nuance and musicality for virtuosity, even when the two perform at a seemingly superhuman tempo ... Their fusion of classical and bluegrass, the earthy and the sophisticated, is so seamless and evolved that it seems unlikely anyone will catch up soon."

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile released their debut duo album on Nonesuch this week, as well as a deluxe version of the recording with a DVD of performance videos and a behind-the-scenes look at their collaborative process. Tonight, in Boulder, Colorado, they launch a month-long tour that will come to a close at Carnegie Hall. Northern Colorado's Longmont Times-Call speaks with Thile about working with his hero and concludes that tonight's audience is in for "a shot at transcendence."

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile's self-titled debut duo album is due out tomorrow, and their month-long tour of the States in support of the record kicks off Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. New York Times critic Nate Chinen writes that, though "the mandolin ace" and "the accomplished bassist" first came together almost a decade ago as "prodigy with his mentor," the new collection "wisely presents them as equals," featuring "a busy dialogue between bluegrass and classical music, with blinding displays of dexterity as well as stretches of poplike lyricism."

Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and T Bone Burnett are among the participants at the ninth-annual Americana Music Festival & Conference, getting under way today in Nashville. A highlight of the four-day affair is tomorrow night's Americana Honors & Awards ceremony at Ryman Auditorium, at which Thile, nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year, is scheduled to appear with Edgar Meyer, his partner on a debut duo album and DVD due out on Nonesuch next week. Burnett will participate in the keynote event of the festival's closing day, Saturday.

Last week, Chris Thile joined Edgar Meyer for the bassist's annual Aspen Music Festival recital. The Aspen Times describes Meyer's playing as the sort that leads his fellow bass players to "just blink in wonder" and Thile as "a mandolin player with similarly amazing chops." The concert, which included several songs from the duo's debut album, out on Nonesuch next month, featured "several incandescent moments," reads the review, "when the two musicians’ technical skill and musical inventiveness combined to produce something unique."

Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer will preview their forthcoming, self-titled debut duo album tonight in a special concert at the Aspen Music Festival. On the record, due out September 23 and available now for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store, are 12 original songs by the two musicians. There's also a deluxe version that includes a 50-minute DVD with performances, rehearsals, and behind-the-scenes footage with Edgar and Chris. The Aspen Times says Chris's first Nonesuch record, Punch, with the Punch Brothers, takes "acoustic music to an appreciably higher level."

When Punch Brothers played the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago last week, it was something of a coming home for the band's banjo player, Noam Pikelny, a native son of the city. Chicago Tonight, from public television station WTTW, profiles Noam and the band whose Nonesuch debut, Punch, "takes bluegrass where it has never gone before."

During their UK tour earlier this month, Punch Brothers recorded a few performances for The Daily Telegraph's online Telegraph TV during a sound check for their London show. You can now watch the group perform the first movement (part 2) of The Blind Leaving the Blind and "It'll Happen" from their Nonesuch debut, Punch, as well as an interview with the Telegraph's Iain Gray.

Punch Brothers, fresh off a successful tour of Ireland and the UK, are back in the States and set to play tonight in downtown New York City as part of the River to River Festival of free summer concerts. After last week's London show, the Financial Times called the group among the "foremost practitioners" of "progressive bluegrass," and their music "Americana played with adventure and accomplishment." Please note: due to tonight's inclement weather forecast, the concert has been moved inside, to Stuyvesant High School, across the street from Rockefeller Park.

Congratulations to Punch Brothers: the band's take on "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" has been selected as one of three finalists in ESPN's Battle of the Bands, part of Baseball's Tonight's celebration of the 100th anniversary of that classic baseball tune. Chris Thile be stopping by the show Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 PM ET to answer fans' questions about the tune, the contest, the band, and anything else that might cross fans' minds. You can submit your own question now ...

Congratulations to Punch Brothers' Chris Thile has been nominated for a 2008 Americana Award by the Americana Music Association. Chris joins an esteemed group of nominees in the Instrumentalist of the Year category, which also includes Sam Bush, Gurf Morlix, and Buddy Miller, who appears on Emmylou Harris's new album, All I Intended to Be.