Bombino has performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, the 300th episode in the series of intimate sets at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, featuring three songs from his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. Boilen praises his "fierce, hypnotic guitar playing" and "amazing jams." Watch the performance here. Bombino, currently touring Europe, will launch the next leg of his US tour in November.

Rokia Traoré, whose new album, Beautiful Africa, will be released in the US on September 24, is featured on the latest episode of NPR's All Songs Considered. The show closes with "Kouma," the second track off her new album. "'Kouma' is the work of the amazingly talented Rokia Traoré," says the show. "Talk about a beautiful voice." Traoré kicks off a North American tour at Lincoln Center's White Light Festival in November.

Iron and Wine, who returns to the road this fall touring North America, stopped by SiriusXM's Outlaw Country while on tour earlier this year to perform three songs from the Nonesuch debut album, Ghost on Ghost—"Grace for Saints and Ramblers," "The Desert Babbler," and "Grass Widows"—plus the song "Lean Into the Light." Watch all four performances here. The fall tour from singer-songwriter Sam Beam and a 12-piece band kicks off at First Avenue in Minneapolis on September 18 and includes stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, and more.

Singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday to discuss the double-disc set Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle, which features highlights from three tribute concerts Kate's children, Martha and her brother Rufus Wainwright led with McGarrigle's sister Anna in honor of the late singer and Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame member. On World Cafe, Wainwright shares stories of her mother and gives intimate performances of two McGarrigle tunes: "I Am a Diamond" and "Talk to Me of Mendocino." 

Chris Thile was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday yesterday. The mandolin virtuoso spoke with host Rachel Martin about his new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, on which he performs three Bach works written for solo violin. "There's the mandolin and then there's the mandolin when Chris Thile puts it to work," says Martin. "Chris Thile is stretching the limits of his instrument yet again, this time taking on Bach." Thile kicks off a US tour with his fellow Goat Rodeo Sessions musicians this week.

Chris Thile stopped by the studios of New York public radio station WNYC to perform some music from his new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, on Soundcheck and talk with host John Schaefer about the album. "Chris Thile plays well with others," says the show. "But on his latest recording, Thile stands alone, translating the works of Bach—originally composed for solo violin—with exceptional precision on mandolin." Listen to the Soundcheck episode here.

Sam Amidon was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday, talking with host David Dye and performing intimate takes on four songs off his new album. "On his fourth album, Bright Sunny South, Amidon draws from a variety of traditional folk material, weaving it into his own mesmerizing compositions," says the show. "With the help of [Thomas] Bartlett as a bandmate and producer, several tracks on the new album go beyond tradition to include free-jazz influences, as well as a cover of Tim McGraw's 'My Old Friend.'" Amidon is currently touring Europe and begins a month-long tour of North America in September.

Timo Andres, whose new album, Home Stretch, was released yesterday, performed music from and discussed the new album on WNYC's Soundcheck. "Brian Eno and Mozart are two names one may not expect to be paired up," says Soundcheck. "Yet pianist and composer Timo Andres counts Eno and Mozart among his influences, and has found a way to couple them. On his new album, Home Stretch, Andres plays off of works by both of those composers, matching his reinventions of those pieces with a composition of his own. The result is a buoyant and fascinating record." Listen to the Soundcheck episode here.

Bombino, currently on tour in the US, was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday, performing two tracks off his Dan Auerbach-produced Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. "Bombino's explosively exciting desert-guitar sound somehow fit perfectly with Auerbach's rock/funk/kitchen-sink aesthetic," says the show of Nomad, "making for an album that's both thrilling and hypnotic." Rolling Stone has named Bombino an Artist to Watch, calling him "electrifying." The magazine includes Nomad on its Best Albums of 2013 Mid-Year Report, exclaiming: "Meet your new guitar hero." Los Angeles Times does too, declaring it "perfect."

Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s ongoing duo tour of North America brought them to the Mountain Stage in West Virginia earlier this year. Their performance airs on the latest episode of the Mountain Stage radio show on NPR and is streaming online at npr.org. The episode's other special guests include Marti Jones & Don Dixon and Aoife O’Donovan. Colvin and Carpenter's tour continues through the summer and fall.

Bombino, who is currently touring the US with his "electrifying" show (A.V. Club), has made NPR Music's list of its 25 Favorite Albums of the Year (So Far) for his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. "Full of undeniably hypnotic trance-guitar music, and produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, Nomad rocks like no other record this year," writes NPR Music's Bob Boilen. "Hearing Bombino in any American nightclub, the reaction is ecstasy and complete connection ... It's blues, it's trance and it's psychedelic in its repetition. Oh, and did I mention it rocks?" Bombino tells New York magazine: "There are two kinds of music in the desert. If it makes you want to listen to it, it’s the blues. If it makes you want to move, it’s rock.”

Devendra Banhart, who is currently touring North America performing songs from his recently released Nonesuch Records debut album, Mala, was featured on Morning Becomes Eclectic out of KCRW in Santa Monica, CA, last Friday. The session, which was recording during the California leg of the tour earlier in May, includes intimate in-studio performances by Banhart and his band of a number of songs from the new album. Watch the set here. The tour continues into Montreal, Toronto, Boston, DC, and Philadelphia, before concluding at The Town Hall in New York City on June 12.