Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Along with Dave Matthews, Harper leads the surfer brand of blissed-out blues, folk, reggae and jam-band music that includes Jack Johnson and Xavier Rudd. The acoustic songs on Harper’s latest, recorded in Paris with his group the Innocent Criminals, should go over well with the sun-baked, smoked-out summer festival crowd, especially the footloose “Say You Will,” the empowering “Fight Outta You,” the gospel-tinged soul number “Needed You Tonight” and the hypnotic guitar instrumental “Paris Sunrise #7.” Aug. 28

Thompson made six classic folk-rock albums with her then-husband Richard and released her solo debut, One Clear Moment, in 1985. She waited 17 years before her next, the aptly titled Fashionably Late. Now, Thompson is back with a gorgeous collection of folk songs, including Tom Waits’ “Day After Tomorrow,” many co-written with her son, Teddy, and one penned by her daughter, Kamilla. But the highlight is Thompson’s own “Whisky, Bob Copper and Me,” a deeply moving ballad steeped in rich Celtic traditions. Aug. 14

Like his wife, Deryck Whibley knows he can catch more flies with sugar than vinegar. On his band’s latest album, Avril Lavigne’s husband offers three spoonfuls of melodic pop—each of which ends, oddly enough, in the first person: “With Me,” “Best of Me” and “Look at Me.” The U.S.-based Whibley is wise to sweeten the vitriol of such anti-Bush numbers as “The Jester” and the controversial “March of the Dogs,” which drew the ire of Rolling Stone for its reference to the killing of the president. Diplomatic punk. July 17