Ken Tucker

Some call them garage-rockers, but the Fleshtones, who actually got their start in a Queens basement, don't stop there. They add in overtones of R&B, rockabilly and even surf to create a sound they like to call "Super Rock." Fresh Air's rock critic takes a good look at their latest album, Take a Good Look.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Big Love in a Small Town, the debut album from country singer Sarah Johns.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two Christmas albums. The team behind the TV series The O.C. has released Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah, and Dwight Twilley has a new album called Have a Twilley Christmas.

With 13 days still to go, some listeners might be crying "Enough!" (already) when the carols play. For them, Fresh Air's resident rock critic offers up two Christmas albums that might help make the holiday chestnuts seem fresh again: It's Christmas, Of Course, from Darlene Love, and Raul Malo's Marshmallow World and Other Holiday Favorites.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new album by country singer Gene Watson. It's called In A Perfect World.

Britney Spears has had what you might call a busy year: A child-custody fight, a much-derided MTV Video Music Awards performance, a public meltdown involving an unexpected hairstyling choice.

But she's recently put out a new album — Blackout, her first studio disc since 2003 — and though there's been much comment about how much she's revealing in the seemingly personal songs, the music is what matters, right? Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.

Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krauss teamed up recently for a joint album, Raising Sand.

Critic Ken Tucker has a review.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the new soundtrack album for the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. The movie does not open until November 21, but the 2-disc soundtrack is already available. It features 34 Dylan songs covered by artists including My Morning Jacket and Sonic Youth.

Fiery Furnaces' fifth album, Widow City, is the band's most accessible so far, says Ken Tucker. The band's musical landscape is simultaneously disorienting and inviting, peculiar and witty.

Magic, Bruce Springsteen's first studio album with the E Street Band in five years, came out earlier this month. The event has occasioned at least a pair of network-TV appearances — including a live morning concert on NBC's Today show and a mortifying 60 Minutes interview.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker says Springsteen's approach to promoting the album — and the way the news media are receiving it — says something about both the state of the media (precarious) and Springsteen's place in American pop culture.