Music

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs the new CD by Stan Ridgway.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new albums: a punk-rock-opera by the group Green Day, American Idiot, and Rubber Factory by the group Black Keys.

Critic Milo Miles reviews the documentary about the influential recording engineer Tom Dowd, who for three decades worked with performers from John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Eric Clapton. The documentary is now on DVD. It's called Tom Dowd & The Language of Music.

Rock 'n' Roll historian Ed Ward reviews Smile, the recently released album Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys began working on after Pet Sounds.

Musician Lenny Kaye is perhaps best known as Patti Smith's guitarist. But he's also a music writer, whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Creem. His new book, You Call it Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, chronicles the male singers of the 1930s known for their suave, sophisticated and romantic interpretations of song: Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Russ Columbo.

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell reflects on her life and her 30 years in music. She has two new anthologies: Dreamland collects well-known recordings; The Beginning of Survival showcases lesser-known works.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews Beautiful Dreamer: the Songs of Stephen Foster, featuring performances by many contemporary artists, including John Prine, Yo Yo Ma and Mavis Staples.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews The Great Divide, the new CD by saxophonist Von Freeman.

Sorry, the Web audio for this segment is unavailable due to Internet rights issues. Donovan Leitch, known for psychedelic hits such as "Mellow Yellow," is back with his first album in 8 years, Beat Cafe. Known best by his first name alone, Leitch grew up in Glasgow, and was a big part of the San Francisco music scene in the late 1960s.

Music critic Ken Tucker reviews Blueberry Boat, the new album from brother and sister duo Fiery Furnaces.