Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.
Tucker is the author of Scarface Nation: The Ultimate Gangster Movie and Kissing Bill O'Reilly, Roasting Miss Piggy: 100 Things to Love and Hate About Television.
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Fresh Air's rock critic recommends three songs that transcend age and genre: Howard's "Another Day," Kweskin's duet with Maria Muldaur, "Let's Get Happy Together," and Helms' "Leanne."
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The Washington D.C.-based band is led by Elizabeth Nelson, who is also a published music critic. It shows — the music is packed with wordplay, jokes and an undercurrent of serious dread.
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Given the ceaseless torrent of music being released, it's almost inevitable that worthy artists slip through the cracks. Rocker King Tuff and hip-hop's Brown deserve a special mention.
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Every year, a sleigh-full of Christmas music gets released. Cher and the Cowsills came to prominence in the '60s, but they still possess the distinctive sounds that brought them their initial success.
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Stern is known for the eight years she spent as a guitarist in Seth Meyers' late-night-talk-show house band, but her own upbeat, highlight original music is unlike anything you'll ever hear on TV.
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Over the course of a career that began in the 1970s, the Oklahoma native, who died Oct. 18, specialized in rock 'n' roll sincerity, and dramatizing the pain of love rejected.
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The Stones' new album — their first in 18 years — features guests appearances by Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, and offers at least one song that can stand among their very best.
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The five discs in Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 3, The Asylum Years (1972-1975) represent both a summation of Mitchell's pop achievement and a harbinger of her later, more experimental work.
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The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist spent years in various bands, including Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters. Now Russell's startling sophomore album serves as a sort of rebirth.
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Bush Tetras formed in NYC in 1979, at the height of the punk era. Decades later, the band brings a sustained energy to a new album, an urgency to get things said and to make some different sounds.