We hit the open road to hear tales of adventure and woe from honky-tonkers and hobos, train hoppers and busking bohemians. En route we talk with Washington folk singer Brandi Carlile, who dropped out of high school to cut it as a touring musician, and New Orleans’ Meschiya Lake, about her journey from circus performer to jazz chanteuse. Driving on in search of mythic America, we hear the voices of its discontents: Woody Guthrie, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Wilco, and Pops Staples. Plus, we “Ramble On” with Lucinda Williams before coming down with a case of “Travelin’ Blues” from Jimmie Rodgers. By planes, trains, and automobiles, we journey across our country’s musical landscape with stories from the road.

We are live in New Orleans at Preservation Hall for the nouveau stylings and hybrid sounds that have been cooking up in the historic jazz hub since second-generation director and bass player Ben Jaffe took the helm. We hear funky new grooves from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, whose band members range from 20-somethings to an octogenarian. And we witness the sonic chemistry when the band is paired with singer Tom Waits, bluegrasser Del McCoury, and New Orleans hoodoo rocker Dr. John. Plus, we remember the late South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who fused Afrobeat, bebop, pop, and the songs of his homeland as a leading voice in the fight against apartheid.

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.