Brooklyn Vegan — Joanna Newsom's future tour plans include January shows in Australia and New Zealand, and a North American tour in March. The closest she currently gets to NYC is two nights at Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church on March 19th and... more info

Rolling Stone — Photo: Shearer/WireImage Vampire Weekend plot a tour in support of their new album Contra, Joanna Newsom schedules some spring 2010 dates in anticipation of her next LP’s release and Nada Surf plan to play three of their albums in their entirety du... more info

Live Daily — Singer/harpist Joanna Newsom [ tickets ] has lined up a few tour stops as she begins laying groundwork for a possible album release this spring. The outing gets underway March 12 in Grand Rapids, MI, and will hit eight cities in all, including two... more info

Guardian Music — Once the star of renaissance and baroque music, this older brother of the piano has found a new home in hip-hop and popWhat is it? The simplest explanation would be that it's a piano, but with the strings plucked rather than struck, although the harp... more info

The Late Greats — Kevin Baker is a guitarist who has help mold the “freak folk” scene. Playing alongside people like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Vashti Bunyan, Vetiver, Antony and the Johnsons, and Espers. He is releasing his debut album next year. Li... more info

Silent Uproar — TwentyFourBit recently caught a smidge of news within a Joanna Newsom photo caption in W Magazine. Reportedly, Newsom has "finished work on a new album" and the follow-up to 2006's Ys. [twentyfourbit.com] more info

Rollo & Grady — White Women Dr Rubberfunk – Beats Working Colossus – The Tribute (v.5) DJ Booka Shade – Contact (Brigitte Bardot Remix) El Guincho – Antillas Apple Juice Kid – FreddieBoi (Miles Davis Remix) Cat Power – Wonderwall (Elements Of Noise Re... more info

Stereogum — The bra commercial, the urban mom video cameo, popping up as an anonymous model on a street-style blog, and now that photo for Georgio Armani's United Artist campaign for W mag: Joanna Newsom's in the midst of a clear shift from the forests to th... more info

Guardian Music — The two remaining Beatles have teamed up for a duet on Starr's forthcoming solo album, Y Not. It's a band renuion! Sort of ...Ringo Starr's forthcoming solo album will feature bass and backing vocals from an old, mop-topped pal from Liverpool. Paul M... more info

My Old Kentucky — Many of Alexa Woodward's banjo-driven folk songs slowly slink like fog down from the Appalachian mountains and hills of Virgina and wrap your soul in melancholy. Woodward's 2009 release, Speck, is full of subtle textures and well-matched harmonies t... more info