DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, in for Terry Gross. The singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright is known for his intensely autobiographical writing. So it's not surprising that when he recently turned 75, he decided to make a new album that is about trying, and mostly failing, to age gracefully. It's called "Lifetime Achievement." And rock critic Ken Tucker says the album contains Wainwright's characteristic bluntness and honesty, this time about being older.

"Folk music's great confessor"

"Having turned 75, there's an autumnal air to his songs, or perhaps I should say a winter chill.  He's more serene than usual, contemplating mortality"

"Aside from Al Green and Bob Dylan, I can think of few living performers who have thought about life, death and what comes after with as much rigorousness, resignation and gratitude."

Listen to the FULL REVIEW HERE