Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

With her four-octave range and taste for emotive r&b, it’s easy to see why Lewis became known as England’s Mariah Carey. The 28-year-old star rose to fame in 2006, after winning the third season of The X Factor. Since then, she’s sold over 28 million records and experimented with new styles like dubstep and electronica. Now Lewis has released a Motown-style album and it’s a bona fide holiday treat. “Every year in my house I play a lot of Motown music, especially at Christmas, and especially Phil Spector records,” Lewis explained, “so that’s where the influence comes from.” Technically, there’s only one song drawn from that tradition: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” originally record...

Over the course of 30 years, Blue Rodeo has built a loyal following of fans drawn to memorable songs and the warm harmonies of frontmen Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. In 1993, the beloved Canadian alt-country rockers decamped to Keelor’s farm and recorded what many consider to be their best album: Five Days in July, a sunny collection with a communal feel that featured friends like Sarah McLachlan. Last fall, the 11-time Juno Award winners and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees returned to Keelor’s rural home and once again harvested pure gold. Says Cuddy: “It was apparent right away that it was going to be a good vibe record.” Songs like Cuddy’s shimmering “New Morning Sun” and Keelor’s hope...

Her father Ravi Shankar popularized the sitar, serving as teacher and mentor to George Harrison, who introduced the Indian stringed instrument to Beatles’ music. Anoushka is carrying on that tradition. On her seventh album, Traces of You, the 32-year-old musician, who has studied with her dad all her life, bridges sitar-driven, raga-based compositions with electronica and other pop music. With its theme of the circle of life, the album expresses Anoushka’s love for her dad, who died last December, her husband, Atonement director Joe Wright, and their two-year-old son, Zubin. “Life took a journey of its own,” Anoushka acknowledges, “and the music followed that form.” While most of the tracks ...

Actors Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan sing out in directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest film, which recreates the bohemian charm of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. Justin delivers an exuberant “Please Mr. Kennedy” and joins Mumford & Sons’ Marcus Mumford and others on a stirring acapella rendition of Irish prison ballad “The Auld Triangle.” For authenticity’s sake, tracks by legends Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk (on whose memoir the film is loosely based) are also included.

Amnesty International played an important role in the history of benefit concerts—even inspiring Irish rocker Bob Geldof to stage Live Aid in 1985. The human rights organization’s own concerts redefined the way music interacted with social causes. This stellar two-CD collection (a six-DVD box set is also available) brings together some of the biggest names in popular music. Bryan Adams singing “Summer of ’69” is just one of the highlights drawn from 1986’s A Conspiracy of Hope tour, while Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band racing through “Born in the USA” is a thrilling performance from 1988’s Human Rights Now! tour. Other standouts in the package include Sting’s moving delivery of “T...

Avril’s the queen teen. Although 29 and newly married (for the second time), the Napanee, Ont. native refuses to grow up—in her music, at least. Her fifth CD features more of the sort of joyful rebellion and willful dysfunction that characterized earlier albums like Let Go and The Best Damn Thing. Songs like the party anthems “Rock N Roll” and “Here’s to Never Growing Up” may be full of bad attitude (and language), but they’re also great fun, full of undeniably catchy hooks and shout-along choruses. Some of the material is sweetly nostalgic like the euphoric “17,” or romantically sweet like the heartfelt “Falling Fast.” There are also two certifiably strange numbers: the edgy electronica of ...

He’s best known as the curly, red-haired frontman of the British blue-eyed soul band Simply Red, which enjoyed major hits like “Holding Back the Years.” But in 2009 Hucknall announced he was retiring the name Simply Red after a farewell tour that ended in 2010, saying “25 years is enough.” He also said goodbye to a bachelor life after years of dating celebrities like actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and model Helena Christensen. Now happily married with a daughter, Hucknall has embarked on a solo career with this collection of songs by his favorite singers, including many American soul stars. He kicks off the album with a stirring rendition of Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong Our Love Is,” befo...

Crow’s never had a problem writing memorable story songs. The Missouri-born singer has won nine Grammy Awards for her work and sold over 35 million records to date. But settling in Nashville in 2006 to raise her two adopted sons proved to be a boost for Crow’s craft. Her eighth studio album, co-written with top country artists, features her most succinct and touching songwriting to date. “The thing about country music,” she says, “is the stories you tell usually get to the point quicker.” Case in point: “Waterproof Mascara,” a Loretta Lynn-style number written with country star Brad Paisley in which a single mother of a son sings how her eye makeup “won’t run like his daddy did.” In “Stay at...

Urban has never been afraid to mix his country music with other influences. That eclectic approach—combined with his high profile marriage to Nicole Kidman, with whom he has two daughters—has helped to make the 45-year-old artist a bona fide crossover star. For his seventh studio album, Urban pushes the boundaries even further, blending electronic elements with organic music. “I’ve always had a deep, deep fascination with the fusion of roboticism and human elements,” admits Urban. “Those things fused together are very appealing to me.” So while Fuse has bushels of mandolins, acoustic guitars and six-string banjos, there are also oodles of drum machine and sequenced keyboard parts. Highlights...

America’s most celebrated singer-songwriter confused fans when he released Self Portrait in 1970. With its folk tunes and pop covers, it wasn’t what people expected. Which was apparently the point: Dylan wanted to shake off his “messiah” image. Critics hated the album, which had been overdubbed with horns, strings and female voices. But the newly released box set Another Self Portrait strips away those sweeteners and adds 35 rarities and unreleased recordings to shed new light on the album. Featuring demos, outtakes and live recordings, it reveals that Dylan was celebrating American music. Traditional songs like “Pretty Saro” are some of his sweetest performances, while the moonshiner’s tale...