MICHELLE RENE HOMETOWN: Phoenix, Ariz. INFLUENCES: Fleetwood Mac, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline ALBUM: As yet untitled EP, out 2013 WEBSITE: michellerene.com As a teen, Michelle Rene performed at county fairs, music festivals and sports arenas in her hometown of Phoenix. She even hosted her own weekly live concert event, but a crowning moment came when she was named the best new act in country music’s largest talent competition, Country Showdown,... 

GLENN FREY The Eagles’ co-leader takes a solo flight through classic love songs  “The Eagles is the mothership,” says Glenn Frey. “We venture to and from that.” For his first solo album in 20 years, the 63-year-old Detroit native ventured far indeed: After Hours is a collection of love songs dating from the ’40s to the present. Producing with Richard F.W. Davis and Michael Thompson, Frey gives candlelit treatment to such gems as Johnny... 

WHO’S NEXT: NIKKI YANOFSKY HOMETOWN: Montreal, Quebec INFLUENCES: Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday ALBUM: Nikki, out now WEBSITE: nikkionline.ca THINGS HAVE MOVED QUICKLY FOR NIKKI YANOFSKY-AT 12 she was singing in front of 100,000 people at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, by 13 she had been nominated for a Juno award (Canada’s equivalent to the Grammys), and at 16 she’s just released her debut studio album,...