American Routes is blues and jazz, gospel and soul, rockabilly and country, Cajun and swamp pop, Tejano, Latin… and beyond. Songs and stories from musicians describe a deep and diverse nation with sounds and styles shared by all Americans. From the bayous to the beltways, from crossroads to crosstown, on interstates and city streets, turn up your radio for the sonic journey!
American Routes—produced in New Orleans since 1998
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans and Beyond
April 23, 2025
We’re going “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,” as the 1920s Tin Pan Alley pop song had it. It’s one of many songs written about our home place. We’ll hear some of those and go beyond to blues and jazz, roots rock and soul, gospel and country, Tejano, zydeco and swamp pop. We offer a diverse mix with Charlie Pride, Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Adia Victoria, Aretha Franklin and Louis Armstrong, with sounds ranging from critique to guilty pleasures.
NEXT WEEK
Sweet Inspiration: Dan Penn & Trudy Lynn
Singer Songwriter Dan Penn is the master behind so many well loved R&B songs, from James and Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet” to Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and Alex Chilton and the Box Tops “Cry Like a Baby,” and many more. We’ll talk with him about his prolific catalog of songs, plus stories behind the scenes at Fame Records in Muscle Shoals and American Recordings in Memphis, and scoring his very first with a rockabilly Conway Twitty. Then, from Houston’s Fifth Ward, it’s Blues singer Trudy Lynn who got her start as a high schooler singing with Albert Collins and Archie Bell and the Drells before going on to her own career in blues and R&B.
Easter & Passover: Let Hope & Freedom Prevail
It’s songs for Easter, Passover and spring, to let hope prevail while we preserve freedom in these tough times. We’ve got songs of resurrection, liberation, rainy weather, and rabbit blues, with the voices of Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Bessie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharp, Dr. John, Willie Nelson and Fats Domino. We’ll hear the “voice of the Holy Ghost” through the sacred steel stylings of Fran Grace (“Lady Strings”) and Nicolle “Nikki D” Brown from Toledo, Ohio. Then, we travel to North East Louisiana to witness the Winnsboro Easter Rock Ensemble perform a spiritual ritual from enslaved Africans that combines Christian worship and the West African ring shout tradition.
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University brings the world’s leading authors to the university’s uptown campus for a multi-day celebration for book lovers of all ages.
The fourth annual New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University will take place March 27-29, 2025, on Tulane’s uptown campus. The festival is free and open to the public.
To find out more about the festival, including the 2025 schedule, click here.