Randy Newman is at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday, joined by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, led by his cousin David Newman, and his own band to perform The Albums 1968–2018, featuring songs from his first eleven studio albums, from his self-titled debut to his latest, Dark Matter. Newman spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the concerts and more here and on KPCC's The Frame here.

Dark Matter, released on Nonesuch last year, received widespread critical acclaim, landing on Best of the Year lists from Uncut and Mojo, and winning Newman a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for the album track “Putin.” ABC News calls Dark Matter “the work of a master craftsman ... frankly brilliant.” American Songwriter says: “He’s at once one of America’s most serious and hilarious songwriters. There’s nobody like him, and never has been.”

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Sam Amidon makes his Spiegeltent debut at the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, tonight. This year’s Spiegeltent performances are hosted by Mx. Justin Vivian Bond (who can be heard on the 2013 Nonesuch album Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle). The Evening Standard gives Amidon’s latest album, The Following Mountain, four stars, praising its “captivating arrangements and elegiac charm.”

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David Byrne brings his American Utopia world tour to Fox Theater in Detroit tonight, before heading to Ohio for shows at Rose Music Center in Huber Heights on Saturday and PNC Pavilion at Riverbend in Cincinnati on Sunday. The Independent calls the tour “one of the most mind-blowingly meticulous and awe-inspiring productions you could ever hope to see … perfection.”

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Olivia Chaney continues her North American tour of songs from her new album, Shelter, with a headline show at Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis tonight. She then heads to the West to perform at Admiral Theatre in Bremerton, Washington, as special guest of Bruce Hornsby on Sunday. The tour concludes next week with shows in Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Observer gives Shelter four stars, calling it “a finely wrought piece of work, with Chaney’s swooping delivery turning songs into dramas. An elegant, luminous album.”

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Fleet Foxes are back in Europe, performing songs from their critically-acclaimed Nonesuch debut, Crack-Up, with festival sets at Suvilahti in Helsinki tonight, as part of Flow Festival, and Slottsskogen in Göteborg, Sweden, on Saturday, as part of Way Out West festival. The band plays a headlining concert at Nordea Concert Hall in Tallinn, Estonia, on Sunday. Uncut calls Crack-Up “astonishing … a recipe for total entertainment forever.”

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Rhiannon Giddens, accompanied by pianist/multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, plays music from her latest album, Freedom Highway, and more at Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, on Saturday, as special guest of Mary Chapin Carpenter. The Guardian, reviewing last week’s Cambridge Folk Festival, for which Giddens was both guest curator and performer, praised her “majestic main-stage performance, juggling instruments, musical styles and song provenance with remarkable fluency.”

Giddens is on the cover of this month’s Living Blues, and Freedom Highway has won the magazine’s Critics' Awards Poll for Best New Recording (Traditional & Acoustic). Her song “At the Purchaser's Option,” from the album, is No. 30 on NPR Music's list of The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+.

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Punch Brothers continue their big US summer tour, featuring music from their new album, All Ashore, at Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, tonight, and Palace Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday. The Boston Globe calls All Ashore a “deeply meaningful and downright gorgeous record,” while the Independent, in its four-star review, calls it “an album of rich instrumentation and understated beauty that reveals deeper nuances on each and every listen.”

The band was on CBS This Morning: Saturday recently for a Saturday Sessions set of songs from the new album, and to discuss the “mind meld” that happens when they get together to play. You can watch the performances and conversation here.

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Joshua Redman and his Quartet—pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Marcus Gilmore—play a set at Robinson Pavilion at Anyela's Vineyards in Skaneateles, New York, on Saturday, as part of Skaneateles Festival.

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Rokia Traoré performs music from her 2016 Nonesuch album, Né So, at Stora Scenen in Malmö, Sweden, on Saturday, as part of Malmö Festival. “Traoré has made the album of her career,” exclaimed the Times in its review of Né So. “This accessible yet sophisticated album offers its own defiance against hard times.”