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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The country star's latest album proves Morris isn't long for the country genre — she's a pop singer with an affinity for rhythm & blues, and she's not holding back.
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Fifty-seven years ago, Charles released two albums that helped extend the reach of country music. Though initially perceived as a novelty, a re-release of the albums proves they were anything but.
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The Unseen In Between, by instrumentalist-turned-singer-songwriter Gunn, and True North, by veteran folk musician Chapman, both use the guitar to explore the mysteries of life.
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Critic Ken Tucker picks three new hip-hop singles he has on heavy rotation: 21 Savage's fatalistic "A Lot," Lizzo's cheerful "Juice" and Lil Peep's melancholy "I've Been Waiting."
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Critic Ken Tucker says you don't have to know anything about Van Etten to find her new album striking and impressive: It's the sound of a woman redefining herself, on terms that are totally her own.
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The range of female artists was remarkable in 2018, extending from Courtney Barnett's brooding Tell Me How You Really Feel to Cardi B's hip-hop styling on Invasion of Privacy.
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Find everything our critics loved this year, all in one place: Maureen Corrigan's book list, movie pairings from Justin Chang, music recommended by Ken Tucker and David Bianculli's must-see TV list. -
For both Crowell and the Monkees, Christmas is a time to draw up a gratitude list and put the year in perspective. The results aren't always jolly, but they're certainly sincere and passionate.
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Though he's widely considered one of the best country-music artists of all time, Frizzell's music is not well known or widely heard today. Ken Tucker says An Article From Life aims to correct that.
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The trio of three country-music stars who make up Pistol Annies — Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley — mix humor with righteousness and drama on their new album.
