Ken Tucker

McKay's new album My Weekly Reader is a collection of covers of songs made famous in the 1960s. The range of material is wide — from the Beatles' "If I Fell" to Frank Zappa's "Hungry Freaks, Daddy."

Over the course of Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes messes with what had already, after its first album, become its signature sound. Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker has this review.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker says the album is one of Yoakam's most stylistically diverse.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker says The Mountain Goats' concept album about pro wrestling is filled with a remarkable range of melodies and moods.

Fresh Air music critic Ken Tucker says the rapper's second album has an excitingly adventurous sound.

Barnett just released her first full album called Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Critic Ken Tucker says she somehow manages to infuse with a freshness rare in any songwriter.

Brandi Carlile is a singer-songwriter who has cited influences as various as Elton John, Patsy Cline, and Queen's Freddie Mercury. Carlile has been releasing albums for the past 10 years, and Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker says her new one, called The Firewatcher's Daughter, is her best yet.

Complicated Game demonstrates a new range of style and subject matter for McMurtry.

Nora Jane Struthers is a singer-songwriter who grew up in New Jersey and was teaching high-school English in Brooklyn before moving to Nashville to attempt a full-time career in music. With her band The Party Line, she's just released a new album called Wake. Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.

Mead hooks the listener, eager to show us the bleak side of what seemed like a bright scenario. That's the way he operates during much of Free State Serenade.