Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker says that Charmer is a song cycle about getting rid of a cynical frame of mind; about distancing yourself from people who are dragging you down.

The singer-songwriter and actor may not fit the country-music mold, but he carves out his own sound on hew new album, 3 Pears.

Critic Ken Tucker says that some songs on Tempest should less like concentrated efforts than outpourings of rambling thoughts; others are as precisely crafted as any Bob Dylan has written.

Despite its title, When I'm President isn't as political as Hunter's past couple of solo albums. Critic Ken Tucker says Hunter reachers back into rock's past while linking it firmly to the present.

The members of Shoes have cobbled together albums like stubborn craftsmen who know that their trade is at once outmoded and valuable. Ken Tucker says Ignition retains the same pop-rock rigor heard in the band's 1970s records.

Ken Tucker says the Black Keys member works wonders producing JEFF The Brotherhood and Hacienda.

The prolific, and often risqué, crooner's 14th album explores sounds from earlier eras with surprising restraint.

Ocean has written songs for Beyonce, Justin Beiber and John Legend; last year, his mixtape Nostalgia Ultra attracted mainstream attention. Now, Ocean has released his first major-label album, Channel Orange. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review of Ocean's album and career thus far.

A Southern hip-hop artist, Big K.R.I.T. recently released his major-label debut, titled Live From the Underground. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the album takes the audience through K.R.I.T.'s own version of Southern history.

The dB's, led by singer-songwrter-guitarists Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, hasn't made an album with the original line-up in 30 years. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the band's new album, Falling Off the Sky, sweeps aside decades and nostalgia to achieve a vital sound for today.