One of the nation's most notable music critics, Ann Powers has been writing for The Record, NPR's blog about finding, making, buying, sharing and talking about music, since April 2011. Powers served as chief pop music critic at the Los Angeles Timesfrom 2006 until she joined NPR; prior to the Los Angeles Times, she was senior critic at Blender, a pop critic at The New York Times, and a senior editor at The Village Voice. The co-author of Tori Amos’ New York Times bestselling memoir, she won the 42nd annual ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in 2010.