Randy Newman is a special surprise guest caller on the latest episode of Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker. "You truly are a hero to me," Heidecker says. "You're in the Top Three. C&C Music Factory is No. 1." You can hear their conversation here. Newman's set at Newport Folk Festival's "Folk On" last Saturday was among "The 10 Best Things We Saw" there, says Rolling Stone. "Randy Newman delivered a typically powerful 19-song solo piano set ... blending his signature mix of intentionally inscrutable ambiguity, caustic satire, and gorgeously wounded romanticism."

Sam Amidon has announced a headline tour of the Northeastern United States for this October featuring songs from his 2020 self-titled album and more. The two-week tour starts at Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 4, followed by shows in Burlington, Providence, Brattleboro, Northampton, Sellersville, DC, NYC, and Woodstock, culminating at One Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine, on October 16. Amidon was on BBC Radio 3's In Tune to perform last week.

In the winter of 2016, Conor Oberst found himself hibernating in his hometown of Omaha after living in New York City for more than a decade. He emerged with the unexpectedly raw, unadorned solo album Ruminations. The results are almost sketch-like in their sparseness: Oberst alone with his guitar, piano, and harmonica. The Ruminations (Expanded Edition), first released on vinyl for RSD Drops earlier this year, is now available on CD and digitally as well, and includes five bonus tracks, four of which are previously unreleased. The vinyl, pressed on two 140-gram LPs, includes an exclusive etching on side D.

Lake Street Dive's Mike Calabrese and Akie Bermiss are on the podcast The Show on the Road to chat with host Z. Lupetin of Dustbowl Revival. "There are very few things in life that you can depend on," says Lupetin, "and yet since 2004, when they were founded ... the group has consistently put out virtuosic, heartfelt, harmony-laden, decadently delicious, nerdy dance music ..." You can hear their conversation here.

Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers have released their performance of A.P. Carter's "Hello Stranger," 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.