Flea, whose debut solo album, Honora, is due March 27 on Nonesuch, stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. He chose recordings by Henryk Górecki, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Brian Eno & David Byrne, Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, and Ambrose Akinmusire. 

Brad Mehldau has announced four live performances of music from Ride into the Sun, his 2025 songbook record of music by Elliott Smith, this summer: three in California in late August, in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Oakland, followed by the Groton Hill Music Center in Massachusetts on September 2. All four performances include singer/mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist John Davis, and drummer Matt Chamberlain, who perform on the album, plus singer/guitarist Blake Mills and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, reprising his album role, here with USC Thornton Chamber Virtuosi in California and A Far Cry chamber orchestra in Groton.

Emmylou Harris, Molly Tuttle, and Alison Krauss performed "Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby" at the Grand Ole Opry's 25th anniversary celebration of the Coen brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its famed T Bone Burnett–produced soundtrack at the Opry House in Nashville on February 28. You can watch it here. Harris and Krauss had sung the song on the soundtrack with Gillian Welch.

Ambrose Akinmusire joins Bill Frisell's 75th birthday bash in San Francisco. Sérgio and Odair Assad, Jeremy Denk, and Yasmin Williams perform in Baltimore. Julia Bullock is at Auckland Arts Festival. Mary Halvorson and Sexmob are in Brooklyn. Brad Mehldau joins hr-Bigband and Darcy James Argue in Frankfurt. SLSO performs Carolina Shaw is in Nova Scotia. Sarah Kirkland Snider is performed in St. Louis. Chris Thile plays Bach in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Tortoise is in Vancouver. Molly Tuttle joins Tyler Childers in Glasgow and Manchester.

Laurie Anderson with Sexmob's Let X=X is due May 8, 2026, on Nonesuch Records. 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.” Nonesuch Store orders include an exclusive print autographed by Laurie Anderson, while they last. The title track, from Anderson’s landmark 1982 album, Big Science, along with a visualizer, can be seen and heard here. Anderson and Sexmob play more US and international dates this spring and summer.

Punch Brothers have announced an extensive spring and summer US tour, with shows in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. Pre-sale and VIP tickets for most newly announced shows begin this Wednesday, March 4, at 10am local time via punchbrothers.com. General on-sale will follow this Friday. More shows will be announced soon.

Rhiannon Giddens has announced American Tunes: Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, a series of shows this summer with Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mavis Staples, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. The tour begins in Seattle on June 26 without Mavis Staples, followed by concerts with all of the artists in Oregon, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. "We’re singing under open skies," Giddens says, "and hope you’ll lift your voice to join in this joyful celebration of songs that connect generations." Pre-sale starts this Wednesday, March 4 at 10am here; general on-sale begins this Friday.

Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s fifth full-length LP, a new, all-orchestral album Forward Into Light, produced by Silas Brown and recorded by Metropolis Ensemble led by artistic director/conductor Andrew Cyr, is out now on New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records. It features Forward Into Light, inspired by the American women’s suffrage movement; the string orchestra and harp (Noël Wan) version of Drink the Wild Ayre; Eye of Mnemosyne, a work on memory, innovation, and culture; and Something for the Dark, a meditation on resilience. Snider says: “I chose to create an album of these four works because they share themes of perseverance, alliance, and evolution through dark and light—concepts that have been at the forefront of my mind in recent years."

Molly Tuttle and Emmylou Harris join the Grand Ole Opry's O Brother, Where Art Thou? 25th anniversary celebration in Nashville. Opéra National de Paris performs John Adams's Nixon in China. Sérgio and Odair Assad, Chris Thile, and Tortoise all tour California. Julia Bullock is in Australia for the Adelaide Festival. Mary Halvorson is at Dartmouth. Makaya McCraven tours Florida. Mandy Patinkin is in Denver. 

Congratulations to Ambrose Akinmusire and Cécile McLorin Salvant, who have both been nominated for Jazz FM Awards for Album of the Year for their latest releases, honey from a winter stone and Oh Snap, respectively. This is a public vote category, so head to jazzfmawards.com now to have your say. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at Koko in London on April 16.

Hurray for the Riff Raff will release Live Forever digitally March 20, on double LP and CD on May 8. The album 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," which is out today with a new video shot at Old Town School of Folk Music.

John Adams conducts The Cleveland Orchestra. Sérgio and Odair Assad are at Northwestern. Donnacha Dennehy’s Land of Winter is performed in Norway. Richard Goode, Mandy Patinkin perform in NYC. Gabriel Kahane is in Iowa City. Kronos Quartet performs in Georgia and Montana. Makaya McCraven is in Maryland. Ringdown perform in Somerville, MA. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Danish Radio Big Band tour Virginia and South Carolina. Davóne Tines joins New World Symphony in Miami.