Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

She’s still in her 20s, but Sophie Milman displays the poise and polish of a jazz veteran. Blessed with a warm alto voice, Sophie has taken the jazz world by storm ever since embarking on a career five years ago with her self-titled debut. Her second album, 2007’s Make Someone Happy, won a Juno Award for Top Jazz Vocal Album. All the while, the hard-working Sophie was juggling her business studies at the University of Toronto. Born in Russia to an engineer father and a graduate student mother, Sophie has always been ambitious. She and her family escaped from behind the Iron Curtain and moved to Israel before eventually settling in Canada. Fluent in four languages—Russian, Hebrew, French and ...

In 1995, Steve Earle proclaimed “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” The Grammy winning artist, who named his son Justin Townes Earle, has now recorded an entire tribute album to his songwriting hero. The collection includes “Pancho and Lefty,” a number one hit for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, but the best renditions are “Loretta” and “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold,” duets with Steve’s wife and son respectively. May 2009

Susan Boyle and Paul Potts have a lot in common. Both were bullied at school and, despite—or because of—their unlikely backgrounds (an unkissed church volunteer and a shy mobile-phone salesman), became singing sensations on TV’s Britain’s Got Talent and the internet. Paul’s debut sold two million albums, boosted by his high profile and opera-lite approach. On this followup, the unassuming tenor mixes a little Puccini with pop, singing a Tosca aria and Italian versions of classics like “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” May 2009

She’s been compared to everyone from Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro to Kate Bush, but Tori Amos is really a one-of-a-kind artist. Born to a Methodist minister father and a homemaker mother, Tori has been charting her own course ever since her 1992 solo debut Little Earthquakes. That album featured “Me and a Gun,” which detailed Tori’s harrowing experience of being raped by an acquaintance. From then on, she has proven herself one of pop’s most daring figures. A feminist who is often outspoken about issues, Tori makes challenging music. Her 1994 song “God” questioned male authority, while 1998’s “Jackie’s Strength” compared Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding day with her own. Tori’s 2001 album, Stran...

It used to be hard to take these California punks seriously. They always seemed like a cartoon version of the Clash. All that changed with American Idiot, the band’s best-selling, Grammy-winning rock opera denunciation of George W. Bush. Now the trio, led by Billie Joe Armstrong, has delivered another classic, full of brash, confident attacks on religious and political hypocrisy. Divided into three acts, “Heroes and Cons,” “Charlatans and Saints” and “Horseshoes and Handgrenades,” it’s a brave, socially conscious epic. May 2009

Her recent battle with breast cancer has clearly toughened her up, making Bif’s latest a harder rocking edge than 2004’s more pop-oriented Superbeautifulmonster. There’s a confrontational stance on such new punk-metal numbers as “Sick” and the Avril-like kiss-off song “Ciao, Bella” where her forceful anger is palpable. But Bif also serves up gentler confessional numbers like “Crash and Burn” and “My Innocence.” There’s even a power ballad and some sunny reggae. All in all, a cathartic release from a true original. May 2009  

The world is in love with Michael Bublé, the irrepressible Vancouver crooner who has sold more than 20 million albums internationally. But there’s another Canadian Michael who deserves to be embraced, one who has piano virtuosity and songwriting skills to go along with vocal talent and charisma: Michael Kaeshammer. Born in Germany, the classically trained Michael became a teenage sensation, mastering stride and boogie-woogie styles. After his family emigrated to Vancouver, he launched his career with Blue Keys, an album of jazz and blues classics. On his Juno-nominated albums Strut and Days Like These, Michael perfected a vocal delivery to match his dazzling keyboard work. Opening for Anne M...

Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine met in high school music class. Blonde Amanda, the “da” in Dala, sings soprano, while brunette Sheila, the “la” in the group’s name, sings alto. Visually and vocally, they’re a perfect blend. The Toronto duo’s fourth CD shows how much the girls have grown since first singing Neil Young covers and opening for the likes of Jann Arden and Tom Cochrane. Piano ballads “Crushed” and “Horses” and upbeat tunes like “Levi Blues” and “Northern Lights” are refreshingly breezy folk pop. May 2009

He’s been hailed for his observational wit ever since Pulp’s “Common People,” his caustic view of class slumming, became a Britpop anthem in the ’90s. Jarvis’ second solo album is ripe with droll lyrics. “I met her in the Museum of Paleontology and make no bones about it,” he sings on “Leftovers.” On “I Never Said I Was Deep,” he proclaims “my lack of knowledge is vast, my horizons are narrow.” Sonically, the recently divorced Jarvis summons a heavier rock sound, especially on the tellingly titled “Homewrecker.” May 2009  

Elvis Costello is a pop music encyclopedia, having written and recorded in many styles. One of Elvis’ favorite genres is country music. The legendary artist first ventured to Nashville in 1981 to record Almost Blue, which carried this label: “Warning – this album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners.” One of his best recordings was 1986’s country-flavored King of America, produced by T-Bone Burnett, best known for the Oscar-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Grammy-winning Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album Raising Sand, both of which popularized traditional country sounds. Now Elvis has teamed up again with T-Bone for ...