Speechless, Bruce Cockburn's first foray into completely instrumental territory, is proof in the pudding that you can teach an old dog new tricks. There are 15 tracks here, the vast majority of which are redos of tracks from Cockburn's catalog. But given their treatment – many of them done as solo guitar pieces – the dearth of new material doesn't even matter. In fact, one could venture to say that these feel like altogether new pieces. Cockburn is a master guitarist; he often interweaves jazz, blues, country, and folk styles into his cross-genre songs. Here he shines, pure and simple. "Train in the Rain" (anyone notice how many of his songs are about trains and travel?) touches on Leo Kottke and Peter Lang; "Water into Wine" utilizes flamenco stylings while crossing into Gypsy jazz chords à la Charlie Byrd. A new work, "Elegy," kisses the modalities of "Greensleeves" while creating itself as a piece that evokes both absence and memory. "Rouler Sa Bosse" from Salt, Sun and Time juxtaposes Cockburn's six-string against Jack Zaza's clarinet, and becomes a straight-up gently swinging jazz tune.

By the mid 1970s the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda, had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new country found itself under his self-imposed autocratic rule. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty. This is the environment in which the 70s rock revolution known as Zamrock flourished. Fuzz guitars were common, as were rhythms influenced by James Brown’s funk. Songs, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak. In present day Zambia, Zamrock makers were few. It was not a likely scene to survive but it did. Welcome To Zamrock! Vols. 1 and 2 are an overview of the movement’s most beloved groups, and trace its ascension, fall, and finally, resurgence. Each volume chronicles the the history of the Zamrock scene with never before seen photographs and ephemera. Vol. 2 Includes 18 track CD.

Johnny Cash's fourth project with producer Rick Rubin continues on the same path as many of their previous releases: Cash's warm and rumbling baritone over minimal production and gentle duets with some surprising guests. One of the things that sets American IV: The Man Comes Around apart from the others is Cash's song selections. The success he experienced with his previous interpretations of contemporary songwriters (Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage," Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat") is applied to this album with varying degrees of success. His throaty reading of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" easily fits into his "Man in Black" persona…

Kids of all ages will enjoy this fun musical adventure to Rome, Florence, Venice and beyond. Divertiti! Featuring: Renzo Arbore • Billy Bros. Jumpin’ Orchestra • Camera a Sud, Renato Carosone • Dominic Halpin & The Honey B’s, Giorgio Gaber • Roby Santini • Lorenzo Tozzi & Emanuele Tozzi

44 original recordings from iconic Brazilian artists and American jazz & pop legends: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto, Flora Purim, Nacho Méndez, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Byrd, George Benson, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis, Dextor Gordon, George Duke, and many many more… 3CDs, housed in a fold out card digipack case.

The Man in Black shows hints of gray on American III: Solitary Man, his first studio album since being interrupted by a series of serious illnesses in 1997. While the inevitability of aging has been the downfall of many of his contemporaries, Johnny Cash's dark convictions and powerful presence have gone from rough hardwood to solid stone. The stark beauty of his 1994 release American Recordings and the warm, friendly collaborations on 1996's Unchained combine to create two distinct moods: one of living-room jam sessions with invited friends, and another of stark solo (and near-solo) songs highlighting Cash's years and stories…

Blues With a Message isn't just about lost love and the toils of specific lives, the blues (particularly within the folk-blues traditions) spent some time dealing with sociopolitical issues on the side, primarily before the rise of electric blues. Here, Arhoolie has compiled a set of pieces related to a surprisingly large number of issues. Among them: Minstrel shows, the mechanization of cotton farming, and its related exodus to the North, sharecropping, segregation, the Korean War, the influenza epidemic, the New Deal, civil rights movements, Chicago employment opportunities – all are given a song or two here. The music quality is roughly equivalent to many of the folk-blues recordings available, though the "big name" artists are largely absent from this one (Lightnin Hopkins does make an appearance singing about sharecropping, however). The songs are deliberately focused on the issues more than the music, but the music can still carry its soul. This one probably won't be on many highest-sales lists in the blues, but it's both historically important and musically enjoyable.

The Gipsy Kings are a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from Arles and Montpellier in the south of France, who perform in the Spanish language with an Andalusian accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Berber-Moroccan and Spanish gypsies who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. They are known for bringing Catalan rumba, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. The group originally called itself Los Reyes. Their music has a particular rumba flamenca style, with pop influences; many songs of the Gipsy Kings fit social dances, such as salsa and rumba. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and gypsy rhapsody meet salsa funk".

Born in Lérida in 1975, Catalan singer/songwriter Roger Mas studied clarinet and saxophone from his early teens, and gradually became interested in ethnic music. A 1996 local radio award kick-started his recording career, which up to 2012 included eight albums, from 1997's Les Flors del Somni to 2012's Ciutat de Barcelona, a collaboration with Catalan folk music ensemble Cobla Sant Jordi. Mas' investigations into traditional, ethnic, and modern musical and linguistic forms have earned him a place as one of the leading Catalan singer/songwriters of his generation.

53 songs from the legendary singer/songwriter on 3CDs, packaged in a fold out card digipack. Includes 'Rocky Mountain High', 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', 'Back Home Again', 'I'm Sorry', 'Annie's Song', 'Fly Away', 'Leaving, On a Jet Plane', 'Sunshine On My Shoulders', 'Daydreams', and many many more!

The Dreaming Gate is the heart of Inlakesh. Inspired by an encounter with the Nazca spider and the transformational power of masks, in rituals and daily life. The Gate is a time and space where the veil of personalty is left behind, as one embarks on a journey to the transpersonal wisdom of intention and timelessness. Two years in the making, The Dreaming Gate is a voyage of consciousness, a sonic offering to the great spirit of mystery. Featuring outstanding musicians playing a variety of acoustic instruments meticulously blended with location recordings and artifacts harvested in the jungles of Irian Jaya in the late 1980's. The Dreaming Gate is a beautiful and highly original body of sound.

A musical travel guide to Azerbaijan: Since the soviet days, Azerbaijan has had a rich jazz scene. To make sure it’s not becoming another obscure insider tip the remote country at the Caspian Sea needs to make some waves internationally from time to time. Under these circumstances a luminary like Rain Sultanov is a real blessing.

Résolument moderne, cette 31e édition se veut représentative des courants actuels qui soufflent sur les musiques du monde, de plus en plus hybrides et sans frontières. Du rock endiablé des Malgaches de The Dizzy Brains, de la voix envoutante de l’indomptable Emel Mathlouthi, au son traditionnel de la tornade mexicaine Las Cafeteras, un vent de liberté s’empare de cette compilation. Ajoutez à cela une pointe de blues créole de Delgrès, une once de soul avec le Français Ben l’Oncle Soul et un trait de reggae revival à la Jesse Royal et vous aurez le cocktail parfait pour vous laisser emporter!

Peasant will grab newcomers to Richard Dawson’s work by the scruff of the neck and refuse to let them go until they have signed a pledge of life-long allegiance. Dawson spent years incubating his singular art on the Newcastle experimental scene. Devotees of his earlier recordings will be at once intrigued by and slightly fearful of the prospect of a record that could make his three landmark releases - 2014’s Nothing Important; 2013’s The Glass Trunk’s; 2012’s The Magic Bridge’s - look like formative work. Peasant is that album.

There's something just the slightest bit comic about calling an Emmylou Harris album Stumble into Grace. While Harris has always sounded as if both earthly and spiritual grace were created with her in mind, when she sings, it seems she can no more stumble than a dolphin can be taught to walk on dry land. Stumble into Grace finds Harris following in the same creative path she began to pursue with Wrecking Ball and Red Dirt Girl, which is to say that the influence of her country-influenced material is more felt than heard as she dips her toes into the spectral and atmospheric accents of folk, indie pop, and world music…