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
Making Music on Records & Excavating Shellac
July 24, 2024
We’re spinning jazz, country, blues, pop and roots music heard locally and globally for over a century on records and later on jukeboxes, in cafes, barrooms and juke joints. We’ll hear June Carter and Johnny Cash, New Orleans’ jazzmen Kermit Ruffins and Danny Barker, Robert Johnson, and the Rolling Stones…then and now. Plus we’ll travel the world from earlier in the 20th century in search of rare music on 78s as dug up by sonic researcher, Jonathan Ward, for his collection, “Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World’s Music.”
NEXT WEEK
Street Beats with DJ Fontana
We got the beat. From second line rhythms and tap dance in the street, to funk in the studio and the cowbell on concert stage, rhythm’s something we all have. This week, check out the beats of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Cuban bandleader Cachao and tap-dancer Savoin Glover. Plus drummer Earl Palmer tells us about playing with Little Richard and Fats Domino. We’ll dig into the clave rhythm with Tom McDermott, and Elvis’ man in the pocket DJ Fontana keeps the beat with American Routes.
LAST WEEK
Music of Healing & Elixirs: Little Freddie King, Anders Osborne, Dr. Michael White & Music Maker Relief Foundation
From healing songs and expressions of pain to hoodoo cure-alls and feel-good elixirs, we explore the musical world of sickness and health. We talk with Mississippi-born guitarist Little Freddie King about how the blues saved many of his nine lives. New Orleans songwriter and rocker Anders Osborne tells of a journey that led to self-medicating with pain relievers that do more harm than good, and his eventual recovery. Tim Duffy of the Music Maker Relief Foundation in North Carolina explains the curative properties of music on society and his work with Taj Mahal to help deep-roots musicians in need. And clarinetist Dr. Michael White talks of jazz and its role in his and New Orleans’ recovery after Katrina. Plus, medicine show troubadours hawk their tonics, Dr. John prescribes Mama Roux’s healing potions, and Huey “Piano” Smith gives us a serious case of “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu.”
