l American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, whose tune Tailor is shortlisted in the Best Original Song category in the upcoming BBC Folk Awards, has been announced as Edinburgh Americana promoters Lonesome Highway's first guest of 2013.

Mitchell has been working on Child Ballads, an album of epic English and Scottish folk songs collected by Sir Francis James Child, with former Great American Taxi guitarist Jefferson Hamer and the duo will perform songs from this and Mitchell's previous albums, Hadestown and Young Man in America, at the Pleasance Cabaret Bar in Edinburgh on Friday, March 8.

http://anaismitchell.com

l Midsummer (A Play With Songs) by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre, starring Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon, continues its global success since its 2009 debut at Edinburgh Traverse. It's New York premiere is at the Clurman Theatre in January 9, where it runs until the 26th.

www.traverse.co.uk

l Scotland's hardest-working bluesman, Dave Arcari, has three gigs this weekend before, astonishingly, taking a Christmas break. Catch him at B@r in Montrose on Friday and Dundee Doghouse on Saturday (both with The Rag and Bone Man) and supporting Charlie Lankester and the Mojo Killers at Glasgow's O2 ABC on Sunday. There will, of course, be many more gigs in the New Year with a new album, Whisky in my Blood, featuring the Helsinki Hellraisers, out on Finnish label Blue North in the spring.

www.davearcari.com

l Mary Anne Hobbs, for 14 years a Radio 1 DJ after an early career in music journalism with Sounds and NME, is returning to the BBC to present the Weekend Breakfast Show on 6 Music from the start of 2013. Hobbs, below, who left Radio 1 in 2010, has demonstrated eclectic tastes in championing everything from metal to dubstep and grime, and most recently worked at Xfm after a period mentoring students at Sheffield University and working on the sound design for Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan.

www.bbc.co.uk