Northern Troubadours 2

Our first collection of tunes by Canadian singer-songwriters went down so well, we felt compelled to compile another — so here it is, headed up by the heavyweights. Leonard Cohen ambles gently into "Bird On the Wire" and soaks it in that inimitable warm melancholy of his, closely followed by a love-struck Neil Young who takes us into a golden cornfield at sunset with "Harvest Moon," and master-storyteller Gordon Lightfoot who keeps "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" fresh in our minds . . . forever. The Francophone troubadours cut loose, in Next Steps.

The roots of the word troubadour can be found in Old French ("trobador" in Occitan/Langue d'oc) so it's only fitting that we've called on some of the finest francophone musicians here — Wilfred Le Bouthillier burst out of his New Brunswick confines with 2003's self-titled debut and continues to impress mightily with tracks like "Le monde a bien changé" from follow-up, Poussières. Elsewhere, Daniel Boucher adds bluesy punch to "La désise" and Dan Bigras lays his cultured rasp on "Tue-moi." Blues, soul and the kitchen sink are thrown into our Northern Troubadour Deep Cuts.

We've all hummed along to Bill Withers' mellow lovelorn classic "Ain't No Sunshine," but if you'd like to hear the track stuffed full of sheer heart-broken agony, check out Matt Andersen's gritty rendition. The big-lunged East Coaster is joined here by the soulful Jason Plumb ("Satellite"), who moonlights as the lead singer of the Waltons, Sudbury country singer Jake Mathews (wringing every last ounce of hurt from "Signs of You Everywhere"), and Newfoundland legend Ron Hynes (detoxing on "Dry").

The litmus test for a bona fide troubadour is his ability to wander into any bar, anywhere in the world, guitar slung over his shoulder, and pick out a stunner at random from his capacious pocketful of songs. All of these Maple-leaf minstrels pass that test with flying colours, and their genius has enabled us to put together a second batch of Northern Troubadour Essentials featuring the very best from the ranks of the Francophones (Pierre Lapointe, Daniel Bélanger), the Anglo-centrics (Hawksley Workman, Fred Eaglesmith), and those who enjoy switching codes (check out Antoine Gratton on "Montréal motel"). Pull up a chair and let the show begin.