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
Winter Holiday: Solstice, Hanukkah, Xmas & Kwanzaa
December 24, 2025
It’s that time of year when the days are shorter and the nights are colder. Warm up to our sounds for the season. Classic songs to celebrate the winter holidays, plus a visit to South Louisiana’s Christmas Eve bonfires, lighting the way for Papa Noel along the Mississippi River.
NEXT WEEK
New Year's with Mr. Sipp’s Blues and Sheryl Cormier’s Cajun Accordion
For New Year's, we celebrate the diversity built into our country by digging into the musical traditions that inform our democracy at its best. We talk with Mr. Sipp, a hip blues and gospel man from McComb, Mississippi, and Sheryl Cormier, the octogenarian Cajun accordion queen from Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Plus music from Bo Diddley, Big Maybelle, Bob Dylan, La Santa Cecilia, and Santana. In these tough times, ring in the New Year with us on American Routes.
Songs of Rivers and Mountains: Joan Shelley & Jeff Little
This week, we visit with two Southern crafters of music and song. Kentucky native and guitarist Joan Shelley takes her ethereal songwriting and voicing of life’s emotional flow from observations on the banks of the Ohio River near Louisville. Then, the virtuosic Blue Ridge pianist Jeff Little shares his stories of growing up playing alongside the legendary flat-pick guitarist Doc Watson at the family’s music store in Boone, North Carolina. It led to a singular career of playing high-speed fiddle tunes on the piano. Also music of love, loss, and fast trains with Bill Frisell, Johnny Cash, James Brown, Tom Waits and Elizabeth Cotton.
Remembering Joe Ely & Raul Malo
Joe Ely, the West Texas songmaker and seminal figure of the Austin Cosmic Cowboy scene, passed away on December 15, 2025.
Raul Malo, the Miami-born and Cuban-descended singer and leader of The Mavericks, known for country, pop and roots rock, passed away on December 8, 2025.