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
Piedmont Blues with Jontavious Willis & Andrew Alli and The Stooges Brass Band Live from New Orleans
February 18, 2026
We're digging into the Piedmont blues, a rich style that mixes ragtime, old-time country music, jazz, gospel, hollers, and historic popular songs. A conversation and music with two younger players in the tradition: guitarist/singer Jontavious Willis from rural Greenville, GA and harmonica player Andrew Alli from Richmond, VA. Plus music by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Elizabeth Cotten, Cannonball Adderly and Bob Wills. Then it’s the Stooges Brass Band from New Orleans in a live studio session.
NEXT WEEK
American Routes Live: Creole Songlines of Leyla McCalla and Saxophonist Donald Harrison's Jazz Journey
We go live in concert and conversation with two New Orleans artists each of whom bring their family heritage forward into contemporary music. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla has called New Orleans home for many years, but her family ties are to Haiti. She draws on French Creole roots for inspiration, as well as from the poetry of Langston Hughes. Then jazz saxophonist Big Chief Donald Harrison, whose musical journey includes time in New York with drummer Art Blakey’s band, talks about “Afro-New Orleans culture” and demonstrates how to bring soul, funk, and Black carnival traditions into modern jazz.
It’s Carnival Time!
From New Orleans to southern France, Trinidad to Brazil, we celebrate Mardi Gras masquerading and dancing to the beat of Carnival music. We’ll visit with Mardi Gras Indian Chief Monk Boudreaux as he suits up in handmade, feathered regalia and struts through the streets with his gang. Then, we travel to southern France for the Carnival parade and music of Nice, and costumed revelry a few hours east in the wine country town of Limoux. Back home in French Louisiana, it’s the Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras where beggar clowns dance for a chicken to put in a communal gumbo feast. Plus calypso, New Orleans brass bands, and rhythm & blues classics to keep the krewe mamboing through the end of Fat Tuesday.
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.