Ken Tucker

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.

Fresh Air's rock critic reviews Is It News, the new album from Texas blues musician Doyle Bramhall. He's had two previous discs, but this is the first collection where the songs are all his own.

The singer, songwriter and drummer has played in his own band, the Chessmen, and with a host of Texas music titans from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Marcia Ball.

Fresh Air's rock critic reviews Revival, the new solo album from the onetime Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman.

Fogerty is a noted songwriter, responsible for the standard "Proud Mary" and nine other Top 10 singles for CCR between 1969 and 1971 alone. The band split in 1972.

Revival, due out Oct. 2, carries 12 new originals from the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer.