Ron Sexsmith

Canadian songwriting hero Ron Sexsmith comes back into our lives with a new album on Cooking Vinyl. Ron worked with producer Don Kerr to create this album; the two set up in Ron’s living room to record where Ron played all the instruments for the album, with the exception of the drums. The result is the songwriter’s most self-assured collection, still charmingly subtle yet increasingly full of musical vigor, as on Chateau Mermaid, an ode to his own Stratford Graceland, or the surprisingly hopeful Small Minded World in which Sexsmith croons, "Oh now don’t feel blue ‘cos they don’t get you, you’ll win this small minded world". This new zen can be heard from the first moments of Kinks-esque album opener, Spring of the Following Year, as the serene sound of birds situate the listener into Sexsmith’s state of grace.

The soundtrack for About Time, the 2013 British romantic comedy from Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis, dutifully reflects its story's time travel premise with a 17-song set of (mostly) previously released selections from the likes of The Killers ("Mr. Brightside"), Groove Armada ("At the River"), Amy Winehouse ("Back to Black"), and Nick Cave ("Into My Arms"). Ben Folds offers up a new, heavily orchestrated version of his sentimental 2001 ballad "The Luckiest," while ex-Dream Academy mastermind Nick Laird Clowes offers up a pair of wistful piano pieces ("Golborne Road" and "The About Time Theme") from his evocative score.

When We Were the New Boys finds Rod Stewart tackling the music of his Brit-pop offspring and coming to terms with his pub rock roots. It's a bit of a risky move, since he could have embarrassed himself with stodgy singing but, surprisingly, he (more or less) pulls it off…

An Australian release, this is a 2CD set celebrating the very best male singers and songwriters - artists include Bernard Fanning, Josh Pyke, Paul Kelly, Xavier Rudd, Dan Sultan, Ash Grunwald, José González, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright and many more.

Borrowed Tunes II is a tribute album to Neil Young, released October 16, 2007. The album features a variety of Canadian musicians covering songs written by Neil Young.