Happy summer solstice! Yasmin Williams and Timo Andes celebrate with free outdoor shows in NYC: both on Little Island, plus Williams at Lincoln Center too. Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly bring MESTIZX to Canada. Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson perform in Berkeley. Hurray for the Riff Raff is in Virginia and upstate New York, where Molly Tuttle is at Mountain Jam. Brad Mehldau is in the UK. Punch Brothers return to Telluride Bluegrass Fest.

Thanks to Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, for autographing copies of both vinyl editions of their acclaimed 2024 album, The Past Is Still Alive—glow-in-the-dark green and translucent orange—for the Nonesuch Store. NPR exclaims: "Segarra has created an epic tale of life on the road, a nearly mythic version of their own life story that stands alongside other great American musical travelogues ... Career-defining." Rolling Stone calls it "the best batch of songs Segarra's ever written."

Guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's new album, About Ghosts, is out now. It features eight new compositions by Halvorson, performed with her improvisatory sextet Amaryllis: 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. Halvorson and Amaryllis will tour the US in September, preceded and followed by shows in Europe.

In NYC, Mary Halvorson opens NY Guitar Fest, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society celebrates its 20th, and Kronos Quartet celebrates Terry Riley's 90th. Ambrose Akinmusire closes out SF Jazz Fest. Timo Andres performs Philip Glass in Hamburg. Tyondai Braxton is in DC. Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson begin California tour in Napa. Emmylou Harris performs Wrecking Ball in Nashville. Brad Mehldau is in Berlin. Punch Brothers are in St. Louis and Little Rock. Molly Tuttle is at All Good Now Fest in Maryland.

Molly Tuttle has shared the music video for “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” from her upcoming album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Ebru Yildiz. You can watch it here. “I loved working with Ebru Yildiz on my album cover photoshoot, which features me playing various versions of myself, or characters. I was excited when she suggested we make a music video together that explores the heartbreaker character portrayed in ‘That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,’” Tuttle says. “I was even more ecstatic when she said she wanted to film at the historic Hotel Chelsea in New York City. It was an unforgettable experience to make this video and feel the spirits of the legendary artists and songs that have echoed in the rooms and hallways of the hotel.”

Brad Mehldau shares the story behind his upcoming album, Ride into the Sun—a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith—and his relationship to Smith's music in a new video filmed at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, where the album was recorded. Singer/guitarist Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear, singer/mandolinist Chris Thile, and bassist John Davis, who perform on the album, share their thoughts as well. You can watch it here. The album, due August 29, also features bassist Felix Moseholm, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman. 

Ringdown—Danni Lee Parpan and Caroline Shaw—performs for the Whitney Museum's Free Friday Nights in NYC, where John Adams's Antony and Cleopatra concludes its Met Opera debut with Julia Bullock. Ambrose Akinmusire performs his new album, honey from a winter stone, at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. Cécile McLorin Salvant joins Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Molly Tuttle plays in Vail.

Grammy Award–winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist Molly Tuttle's new solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine, is due August 15. Recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce, it 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. The album’s first single, “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark,” is out now. After a summer of festival sets and headline shows, Tuttle and her new live band lead The Highway Knows tour this fall.

Natalie Merchant has announced a special acoustic three-week tour of sixteen shows in November. She is joined by her guitarist of twenty-five years, Erik Della Penna to share intimate evenings at venues throughout the US Northeast. The tour begins in Great Barrington on November 4, with stops in Tarrytown, Provincetown, Stowe, Portsmouth, Hudson, Philadelphia, and more, culminating in New York City on November 24. 

Hurray for the Riff Raff is out West, performing in LA, Pioneertown, and Phoenix. John Adams's Antony and Cleopatra continues at the Met Opera in NYC with Julia Bullock. Ambrose Akinmusire plays in Poland and Italy. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in Geneva, NY. Richard Goode brings an all-Beethoven program to Baltimore. Ringdown—Danni Lee Parpan and Caroline Shaw—closes out Ontario's Open Ear Festival.

Pianist and composer Brad Mehldau’s Ride into the Sun—a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith—is due August 29 on Nonesuch. It 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. The album's ten Elliott Smith songs are complemented by four Mehldau compositions inspired by him and interpretations of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” which Smith also covered, and “Sunday” by Nick Drake, whom Mehldau sees "in some ways as sort of Smith’s visionary grandfather.” Two album tracks, “Tomorrow Tomorrow” and “Better Be Quiet Now,” are out now; in-studio videos of the musicians recording both songs can be seen here.

Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, was on Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker to perform "Pyramid Scheme" ahead of the last three stops on their spring tour in LA, Pioneertown, and Phoenix. You can watch it here. The tour resumes in late June with festival sets and headline shows in the East Coast and Midwest.