Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Shelby Lynne has never settled for just country music. Two years ago, she and Grammy-winning producer Phil Ramone recorded Just a Little Lovin’, a fine blue-eyed soul tribute to Dusty Springfield. This time around, the Virginia-native has produced herself and the results are nothing short of stunning: her spare production style reveals uniformly greater depth, sensuality and intimacy in her material, especially on the confessional “Life a Fool,” the infectious “Why Didn’t You Call Me” and the fiercely angry “Family Tree.”

From the beginning, Rufus Wainwright’s star has shone brightly—almost blindingly so—in pop’s pantheon. His 1998 self-titled debut drew him comparisons to Stephen Foster and Cole Porter, while later albums were hailed for their wit and opulence. Openly gay, Rufus has never been a wilting violet. The son of songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, he grew up in a matriarchy after his parents divorced, with his mother, grandmother, aunt Anna and sister Martha and surrounded by music. “Emotions were always high-pitched in our house,” Rufus once recalled. “Breaking down and crying was almost mandatory.” Channeling those emotions helped to give Rufus’ career an extraordinary trajecto...

Growing up, Melissa was known as popular Montreal journalist Nick Auf Der Maur’s daughter. When Melissa joined Courtney Love in the band Hole, the roles reversed and Nick became known as Melissa’s father. Since then, Melissa has played bass in Smashing Pumpkins and released one solo album. Her followup is an admirably ambitious multidimensional project that includes a 28-minute gothic fantasy film and comic book, proving Melissa a mythic-loving artist who’s not afraid to embrace rock’s darker side.

He once covered Usher on his YouTube channel—then Usher came calling, beating out Justin Timberlake to sign the Stratford, Ont. teenager. Now, at 16, the Canadian Justin is a bona fide pop star, breaking sales records and causing pandemonium wherever he goes. His first full-length album is perfect for female teens and tweens, capturing Justin’s boyish charms with catchy, puppy-love songs. For adults, there are appearances by rapper Ludacris and reggae singer Sean Kingston, but this is totally squeaky-clean family fare.

Jakob Dylan has forged a musical career in the shadow of his celebrity dad. The youngest of four children born to Bob Dylan and his ex-wife Sara, Jakob found comfort—if not anonymity—as a member of the Wallflowers, rockers whose 1996 album, Bringing Down the Horse, produced three Top 40 singles, won two Grammy Awards and sold four million copies. During that time, interview questions about his famous father were strictly off limits. Two years ago, Jakob invited parental comparison when he released Seeing Things, his folky solo debut. Now he has released the fine Women & Country. “Some of the things I’ve done, I’m educated enough to know it’s not necessarily the kind of music he always re...

Best known as a blind blues-rock guitar virtuoso, Jeff was also a formidable jazz artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of early dance band music. Here, on his last jazz-swing recording before his 2008 death from cancer, the legendary guitarist and trumpeter demonstrates his deep love of standards such as “Pennies from Heaven” and “Autumn in New York” and gives warm vocal renditions of the 1944 movie theme “Laura” and the 1910 nugget “Some of These Days,” by Canadian-born jazz pioneer Shelton Brooks.  

She’s an adventurous soul diva who bridges r&b, jazz and hip hop. Erykah’s latest excursion may be her most daring to date, venturing off into spacey sonic orbit on songs like “Agitation,” “Incense” and “20 Feet Tall,” which all feature the otherworldly electronic sounds of the theremin. But there are plenty of funky grooves and down-to-earth vibes on “Window Seat,” about an ambivalent lover, and the melancholic “Out My Mind Just in Time,” in which Erykah sings “I am a recovering undercover over-lover.”

Twenty years is a long time for any partnership—longer than many marriages. For two decades, Steven Page and Ed Robertson shared vocal and songwriting duties as co-founders of Barenaked Ladies, one of Canada’s most successful pop bands. In that time, the pair—who began writing together at summer music camps—was responsible for a string of hits that mixed humor and intelligence. But the partnership ended a year ago after Steven’s arrest for drug possession. Now, with Steven pursuing a solo career, Ed and the remaining Ladies—drummer Tyler Stewart, bassist Jim Creeggan and keyboardist Kevin Hearn—have forged ahead and released the band’s 11th album, All in Good Time. Change has been good for t...

They may be a string band, but Dom Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson put a thoroughly modern spin to their rootsy sound. Actor-director Denzel Washington was so drawn to their music that he included it his 2007 film The Great Debaters. Whether delivering a banjo-driven r&b hit (“Hit ’Em Up Style”), a lightning-fast fiddle tune (“Sandy Boys”), an acapella Celtic ballad (“Reynadine”) or a Tom Waits tune (“Trampled Rose”), these Drops have really got it going on. Old-timey with a twist.  

Her last album, Parkdale, pushed the boundaries of jazz by mixing funk and blues with samba into a danceable groove. Here the Toronto singer-pianist, raised by Salvation Army ministers, branches out into adventurous pop. The hushed title sounds a lot like 1970s Joni Mitchell, while the rambunctious “Seven Bucks”—the price of a bed at a Toronto men’s shelter—is funky r&b. To top it off, Elizabeth dramatically reinterprets “Danny’s Song,” a 1972 hit for Anne Murray, the only secular artist she heard as a child.