Sexsmith

It's not so much that Ron Sexsmith is underrated as just under-discovered. Although the Canadian singer-songwriter has duetted with Coldplay's Chris Martin, won a Juno award, been produced by Steve Earle and Mitchell Froom, and been covered by Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and Rod Stewart, he's never really broken through in the US in the way he should have. But if you know you know—and if you don't, it's not too late to dive into Sexsmith's 35-year catalog; The Vivian Line, his 18th album, is a great place to start.

Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith is a songwriter's songwriter admired by Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Feist, Daniel Lanois, all of whom contribute tellingly to this intimate portrait of a writer approaching middle-age and still striving for his commercial breakthrough. Although his songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Michael Buble and Rod Stewart, Sexsmith has never found mainstream fame.

"You Don't Wanna Hear It" is the first single from Ron Sexsmith's forthcoming album Hermitage. The new album, due out April 17th is the first new album from the Canadian songwriting legend since his move from his longtime home of Toronto to a more bucolic life in Stratford, Ontario. 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.

2017 release from the Canadian singer/songwriter. Ron Sexsmith's status as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation has never been in doubt, even from the moment he released his self-titled major-label debut album in 1995. His career arc since then has in some ways been a study in how that pure ability has been handled in the studio. On his 12 albums, Sexsmith has worked with some of music's most celebrated producers - Daniel Lanois, Mitchell Froom, Tchad Blake, Ray Kennedy, Martin Terefe, Bob Rock and Jim Scott.

It's not so much that Ron Sexsmith is underrated as just under-discovered. Although the Canadian singer-songwriter has duetted with Coldplay's Chris Martin, won a Juno award, been produced by Steve Earle and Mitchell Froom, and been covered by Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris and Rod Stewart, he's never really broken through in the US in the way he should have.

Artist's Choice: Sarah McLachlan Review by William Tilland
For the most part, musicians are not terribly articulate about their musical likes and dislikes. After all, that's not how they make a living. However, good musicians are almost without exception attracted to musical excellence in some form or another, and the more eclectic their own creative efforts, the wider the net they are likely to cast as listeners. Sarah McLachlan's typical comments about the music she has selected for this Artist's Choice CD don't get much beyond "simple," "beautiful," and "heartbreaking" – but within these vague boundaries, she offers up everyone from Cat Stevens and R.E.M. to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Willie Nelson, and Clannad. It's not always a terribly cohesive program; the stylistic leap from Ali Khan to Emmylou Harris, for example, may represent an aesthetic challenge for some listeners.

Call them “modern standards.” The compositions of the prolific and terrific songwriting team of Jeff and Don Breithaupt are clearly modeled on the classic compositions of that golden age of songwriting represented in the Great American Songbook. Like such role models as The Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter, these talented siblings devote themselves to the marriage of lovingly crafted melodies and well-honed lyrics, all arranged intricately, then sung by the cream of the crop of the pop and jazz singers of the era.