The world is peppered with musical magpies, musicians who are ever searching, listening out for new, refreshingly interesting rhythms and tones, the next nugget of aural treasure lurking just around the next corner.  For most, there might, if lucky, be a sudden awakening, a new discovery that torches the flame once again and pushes them into a challenging new area or zone. But when you’re Robert Plant your pickings tend to produce pearls.

With Plant’s latest offering, ‘Carry Fire’ on Warner/Nonesuch Records, we have an album that ricochets from area to area, never sitting lazily in any one softly sagging musical zone. From the opening track, with its sparkling, up-beat, up-tempo shades of modern blues and Americana, through the scorching passion of the title track to others that are mesmerising at times and haul indefinably intriguing eastern scales and instrumentation into the forefront, this is an album that is instantly disarming and delicious. Plant includes a take on one of his own personal, life-long favourites, the mid-fifties number, ‘Bluebirds Over the Mountain,’ where he shares the vocals with New Yorker and ex-Pretender, Chrissie Hynde.

Winnipeg band The Treble has announced their fifth installment of 24 Shows in 24 Hours will take place on October 20 and 21. This year the band has chosen to partner with and raise funds for The National Canadian Mental Health Association.

The Treble will play acoustic sets each hour at a variety of businesses, venues, and historical and recognizable landmarks across Winnipeg, in exchange for donations that will go to support the CMHA. Since its inception, the event has grown significantly, and for its fifth anniversary, this year's iteration promises to be a truly special experience. Since it's inception in 2011, 24 Shows in 24 Hours has raised nearly $20,000 for charity partners including the Canadian Red Cross, Winnipeg Harvest, Free The Children, and Cancer Care Manitoba.

Terra Lightfoot's multi talents are on show in a new video for the lead single off her forthcoming studio album. "Paradise" premiered on CBC's q and is now available for streaming and download stores. Lightfoot's upcoming full-length, New Mistakes, is set for release on October 13 via Sonic Unyon Records. The "Paradise" video, directed by Dustin Rabin (photographer for Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and director of performance-based videos for Billy Talent), sees its premiere via American Songwriter.

Stony Plain Records proudly announces the November 17 release of the latest CD from multi Blues Music Award-winning guitarist Ronnie Earl and his band, the Broadcasters, The Luckiest Man. Ronnie Earl calls the album, "A traditional blues album of remembrance, love, and unwavering resolve to live with faith and gratitude." The new disc was recorded at Woolly Mammoth Studios, Waltham, Mass.; Keep the Edge Studio, Quincy, Mass.; and in Groton, Mass.

Edmonton-based singer/songwriter VISSIA's new full-length album Place Holder will be released Nov. 10, coinciding with tour dates in eastern Canada (see full schedule below), and the launch of her own label, Hurray Hard Records.

Place Holder follows hot on the heels of VISSIA's three-song EP You Should Be Sleeping, which ARTISTDirect praised as "good ole rock 'n' roll from a powerful female songwriter. VISSIA might be a new name, but she is an old soul who bleeds blues."

Souleye has earned his spot among the most talented performers in hip hop today thanks to talent, hard work, and discipline coming together in one package. Another key and seldom discussed element driving such career is willingness to grow and Souleye, at every turn of his development as both a performer and writer, has shown an eagerness to widen his musical and thematic scope so long as it remains true to the essential core of his artistic and personal vision. He’s joined by visiting artists on a number of cuts and the guest shots that punctuate this album all serve a greater end. They also fully understand their role as guests and do a great deal to take otherwise fantastic tracks and make them even better. Wildman, taken as a whole, strikes you as the sound of an artist at the top of his game and it’s monumentally impressive that Souleye, this far along, hasn’t lost any of his appetite for communicating with his audience.

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers released The Long-Awaited Album on Rounder Records on September 22. The Long-Awaited Album, Martin's newest collaboration with the Grammy-winning North Carolina-based band, The Steep Canyon Rangers, is full of stories that mix humour and melancholy, whimsy and realism, rich characters and concrete details. And lots of banjos.

That instrument, dexterously, even acrobatically picked and strummed, is just as crucial to relating these new tales as the lyrics themselves, each chord and riff revealing new depths to Martin’s narrators and to his musical talent. Produced by Peter Asher, the new album is a collection of 14 stunning new songs including the boisterous and humorous new track Caroline, the deeply romantic tune All Night Long, and the fantastical song Santa Fe, which showcases the lively dynamic between Martin and the Rangers.

The Five Man Electrical Band (originally known as The Staccatos from 1963–68) is a Canadian rock group from Ottawa. They had many hits in Canada, including the top 10 entries "Half Past Midnight" (1967) (as The Staccatos), "Absolutely Right" (1971) and "I'm a Stranger Here" (1972). Internationally, they are best known for their 1971 hit single "Signs”.

The band The Staccatos was formed in Ottawain 1963. It initially included singer Dean Hagopian, guitarist Vern Craig, bass player Brian Rading and singer/drummer Rick Bell (born Rick Belanger). Hagopian left after about a year, and was replaced by vocalist and guitarist Les Emmerson , who would become the band's prime songwriter, while Bell and Emmerson split lead vocal duties.

So it's September and new releases are falling like leaves in my inbox. Love it. In no particular order, this week's sampling.

The final testament from an artist who shaped rock'n'roll, Southern Blood is Gregg Allman’s newest release since the 2011 Grammy Award-nominated solo landmark, Low Country Blues. It serves as a uniquely personal piece, featuring songs written by his friends and admirers (Jackson Browne, Willie Dixon, Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter, Lowell George and Spooner Oldham & Dan Penn) and is a mix of classic rock & roll, blues, and funk, with emotional texture and powerful subject matter. Produced by Don Was, and recorded at the renowned FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, Southern Blood highlights Allman’s legacy as an iconic singer/songwriter and exceptional practitioner of the American blues tradition. Harley Davidson will be honouring Gregg, a longtime motorcycle enthusiast, with special events across North America on release day.

Multi-platinum, JUNO Award-winning vocal supergroup, The Tenors are gearing up for the international release of their fifth studio album CHRISTMAS TOGETHER, out on October 13 through Universal Music Canada (UMC), the country’s leading music company, and Decca Records/Verve Label Group in the United States. Bringing the spirit of Christmas to their fans and to complement this release, The Tenors will embark on a 16-city North American tour beginning November 18 in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets for the tour go on sale Friday, September 15 at 10 A.M.

Singer-songstress Sarah Slean has announced her upcoming Canadian fall tour in support of 9th studio album, Metaphysics. Metaphysics was released on April 7th via Cadence Music/Fontana North and features two CBC Radio 2 - Top 20 songs Sarah and Perfect Sky. This summer will see Sarah perform on Canada Day as part of the celebrations in Hamilton, as well as a performance at the Interstellar Rodeo in Winnipeg. On October 6th she will kick off her fall tour in Vancouver, followed by dates in Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Ottawa to name a few (full details below). In conjunction with the tour announcement - Sarah has released a beautiful new video, filmed on the streets of Toronto and featuring clips from PledgeMusic supporters from 5 different countries, for her song, Every Rhythm Is The Beat. "This song was inspired by my chance encounter with an extraordinary 31-year-old man on a GO Train several years ago. It ignited a two-year long correspondence," says Sarah.

New York City post-hardcore band Quicksand are pleased to announce the upcoming release of Interiors, their first album in 22 years. Interiors features the band’s original (and only) lineup of drummer Alan Cage, frontman/guitarist Walter Schreifels, bassist Sergio Vega, and guitarist Tom Capone. The album will be released on November 10, 2017 on Epitaph.

Quicksand have also shared a new video for the first song shared off the album titled “Illuminant,” the lead single and opening track from Interiors.With its heavy but melodic guitar lines, intense rhythms, and emotionally charged lyrics, “Illuminant” shows the scope of Quicksand’s influence on post-hardcore and indie-rock bands over the last two decades.

Recorded at Studio 4 Recording in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, Interiors was produced and engineered by Will Yip (The Menzingers, Title Fight, Pianos Become the Teeth). While the album finds Quicksand embracing the cathartic, guitar-driven dynamic of their earlier work, Interiors also takes on a wider spectrum of sound.

Anti-Flag's new studio album, American Fall, follows 2015's well-received, American Spring. With Good Charlotte's Benji Madden on board as co-producer, the band has intensified their signature anthemic style with bigger melodies, tighter songcraft, and thicker guitars.

American Fall is bold – both musically and politically – and Anti-Flag's time is now. With Anti-Flag, a new album is always a call to arms and a call to action that reminds listeners to question everyone and everything, including the current administration. American Fall arrives on November 3 via Spinefarm Records and as expected, it addresses issues facing America today like only Anti-Flag can.