The Pretenders

At 57, Chrissie Hynde is as cutthroat as ever, as fiercely protective of The Pretenders’ brand as a lioness is a newborn cub. She can be quite brash: For last year’s Break Up the Concrete, she benched Pretenders drummer Martin Chambersthe only other remaining original member of the bandin favor of a sturdier session drummer, Jim Keltner (Chambers still tours with the group, though). She makes tough decisions, but she still gets results: Break Up the Concrete is one of The Pretenders’ best albums in decades, in part because it sounds so little like the classic debut they usually try so hard to replicate. Concrete introduces a new, countrified version of the rock band, laying down galloping, rockabilly grooves to tango with Hynde’s ageless voice.