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Lionel Richie released his collaborative country effort, called “Tuskegee,” last week - and it's expected to debut in the #2 spot on the Billboard 200. We throw the pop star's countrified greatest hits album into the ring to be dissected and debated by author Sean Manning and TV Guide senior editor and country music writer Joseph Hudak.

Middle-aged Hollywood hunks Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges both released country-tinged albums last year. In this Soundcheck Smackdown, we’ll weigh the two against each other. Guests include Sean Manning, editor of the essay collection "Rock and Roll Cage Match: Music's Greatest Rivalries, Decided," and Steve Almond, author of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" and the upcoming book "God Bless America."

Actors Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins have faced off once before – in the 1999 thriller “Arlington Road.” Now, the two Hollywood stars are squaring off in a different way – this time, with steely, forlorn gazes and guitars strung around their necks. The middle-aged Hollywood hunks are both currently promoting country-tinged albums, and on this Soundcheck Smackdown, we’ll weigh the two against each other. Guests include Sean Manning, editor of the essay collection "Rock and Roll Cage Match: Music's Greatest Rivalries, Decided," and Steve Almond, author of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" and the upcoming book "God Bless America."

Author and editor Sean Manning discusses his new memoir about caring for his mother in the last year of her life, The Things That Need Doing.

Sean Manning, writer and editor of Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book discusses the book along with two of its contributors; Ed Park, a founding editor of The Believer and author of Personal Days: A Novel, and Sigrid Nuñez, author of Salvation City.

Tell us about your most cherished book!

The show-choir sitcom is hot. But not everyone is giddy about Glee.

The jazz-inflected rock group Steely Dan set the bar high for studio precision and musical complexity in rock during the 1970s. Fans laud the band’s light-funk touch, sarcastic lyrics and lasting popularity. Others say the duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen is just too smooth. As Steely Dan mounts ...

Forty years ago, The Who set the tone for rock operas with the album "Tommy." Everyone from Queensrÿche to The Decemberists have attempted this rite of passage, with varying levels of success. Now, Green Day is topping the charts with 21st Century Breakdown, an album about two characters and their ...

Beware, Joaquin Phoenix. Even if you're serious about starting a rap career, few movie stars who release albums enjoy critical and commercial success. In another Soundcheck Smackdown, we debate "actor albums" from William Shatner, Zooey Deschanel, Juliette Lewis, Kevin Bacon and many others. Joining us are GQ staff writer Alex ...

Seventeen years. Thirteen million dollars. One Axl Rose. This week, the once-mythical Guns 'n' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" finally sees the light of day. But was it worth the wait? In another Soundcheck Smackdown, Lizzy Goodman of Blender magazine and rock writer Sean Manning ("Rock and Roll Cage Match") square ...