Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

It’s a muggy day and John Legend is trying his best to stay cool. The gifted American soul singer is in a Toronto Baptist church for a photo shoot and it’s proving to be one serious sweat-fest. Between costume changes and impromptu performances on an electric piano, Legend towels off and stations himself next to an industrial-sized electric fan. He doesn’t mind being a clothes horse, especially when the wardrobe’s supplied by Hugo Boss, but the wool trousers and vest are almost unbearably hot. Still, it’s all in a day’s work for the award-winning artist, who’s busy promoting his upcoming sophomore album. Sitting shirtless, looking handsome and buff, the 27-year-old Legend spoke about his chi...

One of the best alt-country groups to emerge from the Toronto music scene in the 1990s, Crybaby featured a soulful twang and the sensual ache of Rae Billing's vocals. The band released one brilliant recording, 1996's Paintings, but sadly broke up before a second album was released. Since then, Billing has made several first-rate solo albums, including Blue Black Night and Walls and Fences, all showcasing her songs of rare honesty and intelligence and what one observer calleld her "gutsy femininity." Now, Billing and Crybaby are back for a series of special 20th anniversary reunion concerts, including a one-night only appearance Dec. 1 at Toronto's Cadillac Loung...

Her last album was called Girl on Fire and Alicia is still red hot. This summer, the 15-time Grammy winner made headlines by choosing not to wear makeup at an awards show. On her sixth studio album, Keys continues to boldly speak out, tackling topics from the human condition to global politics on tough hip-hop tracks and spare acoustic ballads alike. She’s also released a companion short film titled The Gospel that deals with police brutality. That outspokenness is the backbone of confessional numbers like the dancehall-flavored “Girl Can’t Be Herself,” which focuses on issues of self-image, and “Blended Family (What You Do For Love),” a song inspired by her own experience as a mother of two...

Norah Jones never stays in the same musical place for long. Since the runaway success of Come Away With Me—the “moody little record,” as she describes it, that launched her career in 2002 swept the Grammys and sold over 20 million copies worldwide—the singer-pianist has defied categorization, releasing half-a-dozen diverse solo albums and singing with artists ranging from Willie Nelson to Outkast. Now Norah, 37, has returned to her roots. Day Breaks finds the “Come Away with Me” singer working with legendary musicians like saxophonist Wayne Shorter and drawing influence from a wide range of jazz. Along with covers of Duke Ellington and Neil Young, there are fresh original numbers including “...

Yesterday, a 22-storey high mural depicting the music history of Toronto’s Yonge Street was announced at a media event on the site of the mural. Two of the legends featured in the wall painting, Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot, were in attendance. Commissioned by the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Association, the work by artist Adrian Hayles also includes images of Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould, Jackie Shane, Shirley Matthews, Dianne Brooks and bluesmen B.B. King and Muddy Waters. The mural covers the side of a building on Yonge just south of College. I was a consultant on the project, which will be completed in December 2016, and spoke at the event: As a music journalist and histori...

Now 70, Dolly is unstoppable. The country music icon, currently on a 60-date tour, is celebrating her 50th year in show business as well as her 50th wedding anniversary. She’s in the midst of a four-movie deal with NBC, working on a sequel to the acclaimed Dolly-inspired Coat of Many Colors TV movie. Dolly’s 43rd studio album is a testament to her marriage to retired businessman Carl Thomas Dean. “All the songs I’ve written [for it] are love songs because I’m celebrating 50 years with my husband this year,” says Dolly. “So I thought it would be a good time to do an album of love songs.” The album lives up to its name, with stripped-down acoustic accompaniment to Dolly’s crisp, heartfelt lyri...

The auditorium was a sea of cowboy hats in a variety of styles—High Sierra, Ridgetop and Cattleman. The ranchers, cowhands and wives were assembled last month in a convention centre in northern Nevada for a tribute to the 19th-century American western artist Charles Russell. But the first performer to step onstage was not an American--it was Canada’s Ian Tyson. With his white cowboy hat tipped at a rakish angle and a white kerchief tied flamboyantly around his neck, Tyson fit right in. Carrying an acoustic guitar and accompanied by his band, the Chinook Arch Riders, the Albertan told the audience, It’s great to be back in Elko--feels just like home.” And he meant it. It was the fourth year t...

Serena Ryder's got our number. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the Juno-winning artist from tiny Millbrook, Ont., who’s won the hearts of Canadian fans with her big, bluesy voice and anthemic songs. Now, the “Stompa (What I Wouldn't Do)” singer is back with a stirring, gospel-inflected rock number that seems certain to get listeners clapping their hands and stomping their feet all over again. Listen: Serena Ryder - Got Your Number

From Los Angeles via New York comes a fresh new group, led by sassy Sarah McTaggart, with a hot summer jam. The electro-pop sounds of this track are catchy and hypnotic — in other words, totally irresistible. “Only love you when you’re someone,” singer McTaggart coos over a bubbly beat. “I wrote this song about my love/hate relationship with Los Angeles,” explains McTaggart, who shares stylistic similarities with Lorde and Lana Del Rey. “Everyone here wants something so desperately.” Be warned: the three-minute song, a dystopian cocktail of desire and dread, is impossible to forget once it worms its way into your head. Listen: Transviolet - LA Love    

News that the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer shocked a nation that has long embraced the band affectionately known as just “the Hip.” The May revelation also made tickets to its summer tour. There’s a deep love for the Hip, whose songs seem to define what it means to be Canadian. The band, which gave a command performance for the Queen in 2002, showcases the talents of poet-singer Downie throughout their latest album. On “In a World Possessed by the Human Mind,” his lyrics have a spooky foreshadowing: “Just give me the news, it can all be lies/Exciting over fair, or the right thing at the right time.” But there’s plenty of spirit in songs like “Great Soul,” In Sarnia”...