"Laurie Anderson has a way of holding our lives up to a mirror, reintroducing us to ourselves, in all our ridiculousness and splendor," writes NPR's Tom Huizenga in his introduction to Anderson's new NPR Tiny Desk Concert; "her incantations ... seem more sage-like than ever." She was joined by violist Martha Mooke and multi-instrumentalist Doug Wieselman, a member of the band Sexmob, to perform songs from throughout her career, starting with "Let X=X," from her debut album, Big Science, and the title track to her just-released live album with Sexmob, through music from her latest studio album, Amelia. You can watch it here.

This Memorial Day long weekend in the US, Makaya McCraven leads SFJAZZ residency. Julia Bullock closes Cincinnati's May Festival. Flea takes Honora to Amsterdam and Antwerp, where Cécile McLorin Salvant performs before going to Vilnius and Kraków. Rhiannon Giddens is in Limerick and Nijmegen. Mary Halvorson is in Vilnius, Cerkno, and Brno. Emmylou Harris tours the Netherlands. Nathalie Joachim premieres new work with NY Phil. Robert Plant and Saving Grace play São Paulo. Punch Brothers tour Maryland and the Carolinas. Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered is performed in Duluth. Tortoise is in Chicago. Yasmin Williams heads to Texas.

Composer Dylan Mattingly has released "Last Dance," the fourth movement of his piece The Transmutation Notebooks, from his upcoming Nonesuch debut album, The Wild Heart, performed by Contemporaneous with conductor David Bloom and vocal soloist Iarla Ó Lionáird. Due June 26, The Wild Heart comprises the five-movement work The Transmutation Notebooks as well as Sunt Lacrimae Rerum (these are the tears of things). (The vinyl edition features the latter piece and two movements from The Transmutation Notebooks: “Ulysses Dances” and “Last Dance.”) You can hear "Last Dance" here.

Guitarist/bandleader Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet's Happy Today, recorded live at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025, is out now. It's the sound of Parker and the rest of the IVtet—drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, and saxophonist Josh Johnson—adapting their form-bending, minimalist, improvisatory approach to a larger space than their previous home-base, the now-shuttered micro-club ETA, without sacrificing their hypnotic power. The album comprises two sprawling, LP side–length improvisatory pieces, recorded and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales on a custom-made tape rig, capturing a moment of brightness in dark times.

Punch Brothers tour Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina. Timo Andres performs Philip Glass in Santa Barbara. Julia Bullock opens May Festival in Cincinnati. Flea concludes North American Honora tour in LA. Jonny Greenwood performs Steve Reich in Amsterdam. Mary Halvorson tours Ireland, Germany, and Italy. Emmylou Harris takes UK tour to Bristol and London. Gabriel Kahane joins Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Brad Mehldau tours New England. Robert Plant and Saving Grace are in Argentina. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in France. Molly Tuttle is in Ohio and Kentucky. Yasmin Williams is in New Hampshire.

Punch Brothers have shared "Song of the Water Kelpie (unsung)," a new track from their upcoming album, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, due July 24; you can watch a performance video here. The band will return to Europe in January 2027 for their first shows there in almost a decade. The tour begins in the UK on January 14, with stops in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czechia, and Switzerland. The band kicks off a 64-city North American tour this Thursday.

Laurie Anderson with Sexmob's Let X=X is out now. This triple-LP / double-CD set was recorded live during a 2023 tour by Anderson and the jazz band Sexmob—Steven Bernstein on brass, Kenny Wollesen on drums and percussion, Douglas Wieselman on winds and guitar, Briggan Krauss on saxophone and guitar, and Tony Scherr on bass. The album features 23 songs, including many favorites from throughout Anderson’s career, performed in new arrangements—plus one by Lou Reed and Metallica, “Junior Dad.” Their performance of "O Superman," from Anderson’s landmark 1982 album, Big Science, at the Ravenna Festival in 2023, can be seen here. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer.

Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Live Forever is now available on CD and double LP, following its recent digital release. It was captured live over the course of two sold-out summer nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music in bandleader Alynda Segarra’s new home of Chicago. Spanning 14 songs, Live Forever presents their acclaimed 2024 album The Past Is Still Alive in its entirety, as well as a selection of set-defining staples, like “Pa’lante,” “Pyramid Scheme,” and LIFE ON EARTH’s “Precious Cargo” and “Rhododendron.”

Flea and the Honora Band—Josh Johnson, Jeff Parker, Anna Butterss, Deantoni Parks—tour Toronto and Montreal. Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson perform in Carnegie Hall. Mary Halvorson is in Portugal and Switzerland. Brad Mehldau is in Toronto and Iowa City. Natalie Merchant and Chicago Symphony Orchestra members perform Mother Goose & the Cabinet of Wonder. Shara Nova joins National Philharmonic for The Blue Hour in Maryland. Cécile McLorin Salvant and Ambrose Akinmusire play Gilmore International Piano Festival finale in Kalamazoo. Robert Plant and Saving Grace kick off South America tour in Buenos Aires. Molly Tuttle and Maggie Rose are in San Antonio and New Orleans.

Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire and guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson have released "Blood & Sand," from their forthcoming album, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings, due June 12. "That's a piece I wrote a long time ago," Halvorson says. "It's perfect for Ambrose, that melody. I always care quite a lot about melody ... just trying to create a strong melody and interlocking parts with the guitar and trumpet." You can hear it here. 

Congratulations to composer Caroline Shaw, who has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score for her score to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman on Broadway. This is the first Tony Awards nomination for Shaw, who is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This production of Death of a Salesman is the most nominated play of the season with nine nominations, including Best Revival.

Punch Brothers—mandolinist Chris Thile, guitarist Chris Eldridge, bassist Paul Kowert, banjoist Noam Pikelny, and violinist Brittany Haas—begin a sixty-four city North American tour on May 14, performing through the spring, summer, and fall in celebration of their new album, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers, due July 24 on Nonesuch Records. They will make stops throughout the East Coast, South, Midwest, Rockies, Southwest, West Coast and Canada, with headlining shows at venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, NY and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN; and performances at festivals including Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Spoleto Festival, among others. It is the band’s most extensive tour since 2019.