Back-to-School with music from across the American landscape meant to provoke memories of early grades, high school and college. Also a visit to the football locker room and band practice. Nick is kicked out of the Public Radio Honor Society for playing music from class cut-ups and non-conformists like Tom Lehrer, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Thelonius Monk, as well as straight-arrows Doris Day, Ralph Stanley, and the Coasters--all in one show!

Our Highway 61 feature continues with blues legend B.B. King. With variations on “St. Louis Blues,” and music from Eartha Kitt, Little Feat, Miles Davis, and Robbie Robertson.

Music from "on the road" with Jack Kerouac and his hometown Lowell, Massachusetts. The Beats go on!

A tribute to the late guitarist Jerry Garcia who passed away 4 years ago this August. Featured is an exclusive interview with Garcia made during his 1989 visit to the Smithsonian Institution. Roots and branches of the Grateful Dead's sound take center stage in this mid-summer celebration in music and memory.