Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Like fine acoustic instruments, Harris’s voice keeps improving with age. Now 56, the silver-haired singer recently hit her prime with the Grammy-winning Red Dirt Girl, her best-selling album in 20 years. Harris’ latest is equally strong, featuring collaborations with old friends Linda Ronstadt and the McGarrigle Sisters and new ones like Canada’s Jane Siberry. Standout tracks include the Andean-flavored “Little Bird” and “Strong Hand (Just One Miracle),” a stunning tribute to country matriarch June Carter Cash.

“Oh what a world my parents gave me,” he sings on the opening track, which features the theme from Ravel’s “Bolero,” no less. Experiencing the vagaries of jet-setting, Wainwright “could be heading for Poland or limbo or Lower Manhattan.” It’s tough being the son of rock stars. But Rufus is hard to dislike, mostly because he’s so damn talented and comes up with gorgeous, utterly original song like “Pretty Things” and “Dinner at Eight,” a heartbreaking confessional about the night his father left home.

Recorded in the Ghanaian countryside during a military coup, this collection of African gospel and rootsy highlife music sounds even fresher now than when first released more than 20 years ago. The cascading guitars and soaring vocals of Salaam and his Cultural Imani Group and F. Kenya’s Guitar Band possess an irresistible vitality. And the rollicking gospel of the Baptist Disciple Singers and the Calvary Bells Supreme Christian Singers is truly uplifting. Proof that beauty is sometimes born out of human hardship.

Canada’s reggae veterans have “reggae-fied” everything from the Beatles’ “She Loves You” to Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut is the Deepest.” Here, they add the one-drop rhythm to the Rascals’ “Groovin’.” But catchy covers are only part of the Sattalites’ oeuvre. Led by Jo Jo Bennett and Fergus Hambleton, the band—now happily celebrating its 20th anniversary—also delivers polished originals like Hambleton’s “The Key” and Bruce “Preacher” Robinson’s spirited dancehall rap “God Bless.” Joyful, unpretentious stuff.

As tribute album titles go, this one takes first prize. The music’s pretty damn good too. This homage to the brothers’ vintage close harmonies and classic hurtin’ songs features some brilliant duets, including James Taylor and Alison Krauss on “How’s the World Treating You” Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell on “My Baby’s Gone” (Harris, along with her mentor Gram Parsons, was an early champion of  the Louvins). Country legends such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard round out this fine tribute.

Like fellow boho Tom Waits, with who she was once romantically involved, Jones has always flourished on the fringes of pop music. Jones’ latest album—her first of original material in six years—is unlikely to push her any closer to the mainstream. Which is a shame, because catchy protest songs about the Bush administration like “Ugly Man” and “Tell Somebody (Repeal the Patriot Act Now)” deserve a wider audience. And musically, the pastiche of jazz, blues and funk makes this one of Jones’ strongest efforts in years.  

A mixed bag, this Lightfoot love-in ranges from refreshing interpretations by Cowboy Junkies (a rocking “The Way I Feel”), Bruce Cockburn (a spooky “Ribbon of Darkness”) and Blackie & the Rodeo Kings (a stirring “Summer Side of Life”) to such weak or dated choices as “Go Go Round” (Blue Rodeo), “Bend in the River” (Harry Manx) and “Black Day in July” (the Tragically Hip). With Aengus Finnan’s paean joining the Guess Who’s early testimonial, at least two tribute songs now exist titled “Lightfoot.” Go Go Gord.

Unabashed retro rockers from Down Under are nothing new—in fact, this four-piece from Melbourne shares management with Sydney’s Vines, last year’s buzz band. Where the Vines pay homage to Nirvana, the boys in Jet are steeped mostly in vintage Rolling Stones on ballsy rockers like “Last Chance” and “Rollover DJ.” Even ballads like “Move On” have a Stones-y, “Wild Horses” ring to them. Add hints of AC/DC and Oasis (on “Look What You’ve Done”) and you’ve got an exuberant, if backward-glancing, debut.

This fall, Martin Scorcese attempts to do for the blues what Ken Burns did for jazz, with a flood of branded CDs and documentaries. Lang, a former guitar prodigy (he recorded his debut album at 15), began as a promising white blues player but moved into soul and r&b territory with his last album, the mediocre Wander this World. His latest is similar, with nods to Prince and Stevie Wonder (including a so-so cover of Wonder’s “Livin’ in the City”). Sadly, only one track, “Long Time Coming,” packs any blues punch at all.

With their raunchy sound and snotty attitude, New York’s the Strokes were the darlings in the vanguard of the recent garage-rock revolution. The followup to the band’s wildly successful debut, 2001’s Is This It, still untitled at press time, promises giddy new-wave-ish numbers like “12:51,” reggae-tinged tunes like “Ze Newie” and a soul ballad called “Under Control.” The Strokes’ perfectionist approach to recording meant that Nigel Godrich—producer of Radiohead, no less—was jettisoned in favor of Gordon Raphael.