Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Not many singers get name-checked in a Bob Dylan song, but Keys is the real deal, a gifted artist unspoiled by the Grammy wins and multimillion sales. Keys’ third studio album continues to showcase her classically-influenced style with shades of Chopin (the title track’s piano intro) and Aretha Franklin (the anthemic “Superwoman”). There are also hints of Stevie Wonder’s quirky keyboard on the infectious “No One” and Prince’s anguished falsetto on the tender “Like You’ll Never See Me Again.” Superbly soulful. Nov. 13

No longer the “hick from Mount Uniacke” in Nova Scotia, Buck 65 is now Canada’s avant-garde maestro. The rapper-MC-turntablist shifted away from his down-home rap with 2005’s Secret House Against the World, which incorporated jazz, trip-hop and French into his abstract mix. Here, drawing on the cultural ephemera of the Frisbee, the Beat Generation, China’s Great Leap Forward, Elvis Presley and Situationist International, he delivers an inspired hip-hop concept album dedicated to the year 1957. Oct. 30

They make a supremely odd couple: the grizzled old rock god and the impossibly sweet bluegrass diva. Despite their differences—or because of them—Plant and Krauss forge a real chemistry on this collection of modal blues and country soul. The Zeppelin vocalist has never sounded so restrained, perhaps to allow Krauss’ exquisite harmonies to shine through on songs by Little Milton Campbell, The Everly Brothers, Townes Van Zandt and Tom Waits. Credit producer T-Bone Burnett for masterminding the magic. Oct. 23

The album title is a play on Neil Young’s song “Are You Ready for the Country,” which is appropriate given that The Diableros’ music seems at least partly inspired by the spirit of Crazy Horse, with plenty of raging solos on songs like “Turning Backwards” and “Kicking Rocks.” Singer Pete Carmichael even affects the Flannel Shirted One’s signature falsetto whine on “Left from the Movies.” And when his Toronto band pays tribute to its hometown on “Nothing Down in Hogtown,” it’s yet another nod to Neil. Oct. 16

Like another new East Coaster, Jenn Grant, Higgs crafts warm, willowy sounds over dreamy, confessional lyrics. But what sets Higgs apart is her predilection for mixing acoustic balladry with synthesized flourishes—call it folktronica. The fiddle-fueled opener “Parables” features cascading vocal loops, while the buzzing “Apples” may owe something to Higgs’ role in the trip-hop project Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees. Compelling lyrics + experimental arrangements = another adventurous Canadian artist. Oct. 16

The White Stripes’ Jack and Meg White once pretended to be brother and sister, until a wily reporter exposed the Detroit couple as formerly husband and wife. The Fiery Furnaces Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger really are a sibling act—and a wildly oddball one at that. The Chicago duo’s latest album features such weird numbers as the offbeat “Duplexes of the Dead” and “The Old Hag is Sleeping.” But there are also some moments of eccentric beauty, including the mellifluous “My Egyptian Grammar.”

Black is a survivor—and one gutsy diva. Born in Toronto’s tough Jane and Finch ’hood, the r&b singer got her start lending her gritty, soulful vocals to tracks by various T-dot hip-hop artists before making her debut with the big, bold This is Me. Black’s second album proves she has the songwriting chops to match her powerful alto. Along with “Seven Day Fool,” a ballsy remake of the Etta James classic, it features Black singing her ass off on a collection of first-rate original ballads and rugged dancefloor scorchers alike.

McCombs is a U.S. singer-songwriter, but no ordinary folkie. Signed to England’s Domino label (Franz Ferdinand, The Arctic Monkeys), he writes quirky songs about himself that sound like nothing else around. McCombs’ third album features his wry autobiographical perspective on such catchy tunes as “That’s That,” in which he croons cheerfully about working at a job cleaning toilets in a Baltimore club. Meanwhile, his dark, surrealistic side emerges on “Lionkiller” and the sprightly “Full Moon or Infinity.”

The Old Soul is the brainchild of Toronto’s Luca Maoloni, a gifted musician with an absurdist bent. Like Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras, Maoloni has extravagant, wacky ideas and orchestrates a large ensemble to try and execute them. Trouble is, Maoloni’s imagination has clearly run amok and the music on his group’s second album is all over the shop. From the cabaret-like “Your Sister” and the Tubular Bells-like “Want to Be Seen” to the frivolous calypso romp “Let’s Neck,” it’s a sprawling, ill-conceived mess.

He sings like a cross between Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley and writes songs with the wit and warmth of Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, which helped Hawley win a prestigious Mercury Prize nomination for his last album, Coles Corner. The former Pulp guitarist’s latest collection ups the ante, adding the brisk rockabilly of “Serious” and “Looking for Someone to Find Me” and the lush orchestral opener “Valentine.” But Hawley’s ace up his sleeve is “Tonight the Streets Are Ours,” a stirring freedom song for modern times.