Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

The heart of the Canadian songwriting legend, who gave us classics like “Four Strong Winds” and “Navajo Rug,” lies in the West and its big-sky vistas. Here, he sings of cowboys (“Will James”), ranching (“Colorado Horses”) and tragic romance with his new rendition of the touching “Darcy Farrow,” originally recorded in his Ian & Sylvia days. 

The 17 th album from Sweet Baby James—and his first collection of new songs in 13 years—is a beauty, full of charming love songs (“You and I Again”), an ode to Toronto (“Snowtime”) and his obsession with baseball’s Boston Red Sox (“Angels of Fenway”) and a gorgeous version of the folk classic “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

Florence Welch possesses one of the biggest, bluest and, yes, most beautiful voices in pop music. Her band’s third album is the perfect showcase for her dramatic vocals and intimate lyrics, best illustrated on songs like the gospel-laced “Delilah,” the explosive rocker “What Kind of Man” and the title track with its stately brass fanfare.

The Ladies’ currency has always been catchy songs that excel in clever rhymes and witty wordplay. After 27 years, the Ladies—Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart—are at their tuneful, wisecracking best. The group’s 14 th album finds the Ladies on a roll, boasting all the swagger of a group that knows its strengths. It opens with the rocking “Get Back Up,” a song about midlife resurgence that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee with its pithy boxing metaphors. “Say What You Want” is an exuberant expression of mature confidence, while “Duct Tape Heart” uses Red Green’s favorite fix-all material to express romantic resiliency. The title track reflects Robertson’s ...

Recorded on his recent Old Ideas World Tour, Cohen’s latest is a collection of new songs and alternate versions of older classics. Highlights include a gorgeous rendition of his 1971 song “Joan of Arc,” sung with backup singer Hattie Webb, and “Got a Little Secret,” a new bluesy number written with the icon’s signature deadpan humor.

Wilder is right. Britain’s folk-rockers forsake banjos in a favor of synthesized pop-rock on their third album. Working with producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & the Machine), Marcus Mumford and his mates aim for something closer to the National and Coldplay on stirring breakup anthems like “Tompkins Square Park” and “Ditmas.”

She may be best known for the love songs “Until It’s Time for You to Go” and “Up Where We Belong.” But Buffy Sainte-Marie has a long history of protest music, dating back to her 1964 anti-war anthem “Universal Soldier.” The Canadian-born First Nations legend pulls no punches on her new album. Covers include songs by two British bands: the title track by Alabama 3 and UB40’s “Sing Our Own Song.” Saint-Marie sings the former as a techno-laced call to arms and puts her own powwow spin on the latter, complete with a reference to the aboriginal-rights movement Idle No More. “Not the Lovin’ Kind” is a fiery reworking of her breakup song from her 1972 album Moonshot . Of her new material, stan...