Break Up the Concrete (2008)

Pretenders frontlady Chrissie Hynde is the only original band member on Break Up the Concrete, which features a backing group composed of well-traveled session guys such as drummer Jim Keltner. Fortunately, with her velvet-sandpaper vocals and unflappable rock-chick cool, Hynde is more than enough to build an album around. On scrappy rockabilly jams like ''Boots of Chinese Plastic,'' she cuts loose with an effortlessness it takes years to cultivate, while the disc's lovely closer, ''One Thing Never Changed,'' suggests she's got a future as a weehours balladeer if she wants it. B
Download This: Listen to ''Boots of Chinese Plastic'' on the band's MySpace page