Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

She excavates emotion with the skill of a seasoned coal miner. Like actress Helen Mirren, Williams digs into subjects like love, loss and redemption with wisdom and a mature sexiness. As usual, her latest has lots of yearning, especially on songs such as “Fancy Funeral” and “Mama You Sweet,” about her mother’s death. There’s plenty of heartache, too, on bluesy country numbers like “Learning How to Live.” But Williams is at her best on “Come On,” an acerbic kiss-off to a former lover that she delivers with rapier-like wit.

It’s been a longtime since Scotland’s Simple Minds rivaled Ireland’s U2 as the kings ofCeltic rock. You’d have to go all the way back to 1985, when theinclusion of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” in the movie The Breakfast Clubpushed Simple Minds into the stratosphere. But don’t feel sorry forsinger Jim Kerr, who owns homes in Nice and London and a luxury hotelin Sicily. His band’s latest is a return to form, featuringradio-friendly rockers like “Rockets” and “Kiss and Fly” that shouldkeep the coffers filled. July 2009

Well excuuuse me! Who’d expect the original “wild and crazy guy” to be a sterling musician? But Martin, whose first album in 30 years is subtitled “New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,” dazzles with his instrumental bluegrass work. Although he features stellar guests like Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs and Canadian actor Eugene Levy and voices one humorous number, “Late for School,” it’s Martin’s dexterous picking on original gems like “Tin Roof” and “Daddy Played the Banjo” that truly impresses. Not a novelty. July 2009