@Brian Collison

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place. Updated as you listen.

Rediscover the genre's chart-toppers, classics, and lost favorites. Our editors regularly update this playlist—if you hear something you like, add it to your library.

Gordon Lightfoot was not only one of Canada’s most famous musical exports but also one of the key figures in the ’70s singer-songwriter boom. His warm, oaky baritone, precision-tooled lyrics, and mix of folk, country, and pop influences made him a major hitmaker in both his homeland and the U.S. Born in Orillia, Ontario, in 1938, he began singing as a child and eventually gained experience in classical music, jazz, and more before becoming a part of the burgeoning folk scene in the early ’60s. By mid-decade, he had found as much success in Canada with other artists’ versions of his songs (Ian & Sylvia and Peter, Paul & Mary all recorded his tunes) as with his own recordings, but his smash 1970 ballad “If You Could Read My Mind” began his run as a U.S. pop star. Plenty more hits followed over the next few years, including “Carefree Highway,” “Rainy Day People,” and the U.S. No. 1 smash “Sundown”; however, Lightfoot’s 1976 true-life seafaring epic “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” became his best-known work. His output slowed after the ’80s, and he fought his way back from numerous serious health issues in the 2000s, including a stroke. But by decade’s end, he was performing again as an elder statesman of Canadian music and one of the nation’s most celebrated sons. Lightfoot died in May 2023 at the age of 84.

Creedence are the archetypal roots rock act: earthy tunes, deliciously twangy hooks, and a gritty, soulful shouter in John Fogerty. Underneath their down-home sensibility is a rich stew of R&B, folk, and country—“Born on the Bayou” is swampy choogle, “Travelin' Band” pounds '50s revivalism, and “Lookin' Out My Back Door” is bluegrass-tinged pop. As a lyricist, Fogerty is equally nuanced: While his list of hummable, feel-good foot-stompers is long, he also unleashed blue-collar rage with the riff-fueled “Fortunate Son”—one of the darkest political rockers of the hippie era.