Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

It’s not just the agrochemical multinational corporation that Young targets on his new protest album, but big-box chains like Wal-Mart and Starbucks that are “too big to fail, too rich for jail.” Working with Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah, the raging rock legend tackles topics from worker exploitation to genetically modified foods.

Kevin Parker, frontman for the Western Australian psych-rockers, has eclectic tastes, from Led Zeppelin to Britney Spears. His band’s third album has plenty of diversity, featuring the disco funk of “Less I Know the Better” and the slow and hypnotically moody “Cause I’m a Man,” which amounts to wildly trippy lounge music.

Joss Stone is best known for her 2004 debut The Soul Sessions, which paired her smoky vocals with a classic r&b sound. But the singer from Devon, England has been feeling the island vibe ever since meeting Bob Marley’s son Damien in SuperHeavy, the short-lived supergroup with Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman. For her seventh album, Stone embraces a more global sound, dabbling South Asian percussion on “Stuck on You” and Spanish guitar on “Let Me Breathe.” There are still hints of her trademark soul on songs like “This Ain’t Love.” But she and Marley cook up mostly sunny reggae on the album’s 14 tracks. Their “Wake Up” duet is a dancehall-flavored warning about the power of subli...