Natalie Merchant was on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week to talk with presenter Kirsty Wark and fellow guests Jeffrey Boakye and Michel Faber about her new album, Keep Your Courage, and more. You can hear their conversation here. Merchant embarks on a European headlining tour beginning in Berlin tomorrow, followed by two nights at The London Palladium on Thursday and Friday, and including her first shows in Italy since 2002. 

Natalie Merchant is the guest on the latest episode of Songcraft, the podcast “about the creators of lyrics and music that stand the test of time.” She joins hosts Scott B. Bomar and Paul Duncan for an extensive conversation about her new album, Keep Your Courage, and music from throughout her career. You can hear their conversation here.

"Sorry I Haven’t Called was worth the wait, and another cool stylistic leap," Talkhouse host Josh Modell says of the new album from Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko), who talks with Jaboukie on the show. “Sorry I Haven’t Called, which was partly produced by former Vampire Weekend guy Rostam, takes things even a step further, with an eye toward something even bigger and bolder. And even though the songs were inspired by a dark time in Tamko’s life, they turned out incredibly buoyant and upbeat.” You can hear the episode here.

“This new recording is just extraordinary. It’s so engaging,” saxophonist David Sanborn says of Mélusine, the new album from Cécile McLorin Salvant, the guest on his new WBGO podcast, As We Speak. “I think the gravitational pull of the way you ordered the music and how you paced it was really powerful,” he tells Salvant. “And then when I read the story of Mélusine and how that was the organizing principle for all of it, it made it even more astounding to me … Just brilliant.” You can hear their conversation here.

Rhiannon Giddens was on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions to talk with host Michael Berkeley about and share music from Bach, Dvořák, Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Stephen Sondheim, and more. You can hear their conversation and Giddens’ selections here.

Natalie Merchant was on The Sound of Success to talk with host Nic Harcourt about her life and musical career, including her new album, Keep Your Courage, and the tour for it she resumes next week on the US West Coast. She shares what Brian Eno and Roxy Music meant to her in her youth (on 8-track!), the impact of David Byrne’s early music videos, her musical guilty pleasure, and much more.

Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, who was on Norah Jones’ podcast Norah Jones Is Playing Along last week, can now be seen in a video from the session in which the duo performs Lucinda Williams’ song “Drunken Angel,” from Williams' 1998 album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. You can watch it here.

“This feeling that your life seemed complete before, but now it’s full of color, it’s more vivid than you could ever imagine, because someone new came into it,” Stephen Rodgers, host of Resounding Verse, says on the subject of the title track to Rhiannon Giddens’ new album, You’re the One, a song that was inspired by a moment Giddens had with her son not long after he was born. “I find this song so moving because I can relate to the experience it describes, and I think many people listening to the song will have a similar connection to it. But it’s not just what the song is about that moves me so much. It’s also how the words are constructed, and how the music and words meld together.” You can hear the episode here.

“I’m so in love with the music,” Norah Jones says of Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, the guest on the latest episode of her podcast, Norah Jones Is Playing Along. “I’ve been listening to Hurray for the Riff Raff for a long time. And their voice is just breathtaking to me.” Jones and Segarra talk about Segarra’s life and music and duet on several songs together, including three from Hurray for the Riff Raff’s 2022 album, LIFE ON EARTH, and more, closing with their take on Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel.” You can hear it all here.

David Byrne is the subject of a Financial Times Magazine feature and spoke with writer Lilah Raptopoulos on the FT Weekend podcast. They talk about some of the “million-and-a-half things” for which he is known, including Talking Heads and the just-opened Broadway production of Here Lies Love, the original 2010 double-disc song cycle album of which gets its first vinyl release this Friday. You can hear their conversation here.

Molly Tuttle is on The Bluegrass Situation's Basic Folk podcast hosted by Cindy Howes and Lizzie No. Tuttle, The Bluegrass Situation Artist of the Month, returns to the show to talk about City of Gold, her new album with her band Golden Highway. “She’s writing bluegrass songs that are fun and insightful at the same time,” says Howes. “Molly Tuttle is a great hang, an inspiration for us all and has made a fabulous new album, City of Gold.” You can hear their conversation here.

David Byrne is on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast to talk with O’Brien about his childhood, his early musical experiments, his time with Talking Heads, and the just-opened Broadway production of his immersive disco pop musical Here Lies Love. “I have learned to expect the unexpected from David Byrne,” O’Brien says. "This is my dream come true." You can hear their conversation here.