From Pretty Polly and Poor Ellen Smith to Lil’ Liza Jane and Old Joe Clark, this American Routes deals with the nomenclature of music. We’ll chat with a man many of you might know, and learn what it’s like to grow up as John Smith. Plus, the San Antonio native and leader of the barnstorming 1950’s band Mando & the Chili Peppers tells us how he took a turn from Tejano music to rock n’ roll and ended up in Las Vegas with a stage name that stuck. And learn more about Jody, that shadowy figure that’s got your girl and gone.

Head to New York City with American Routes as we search out the beat of the boroughs. Sit in with Seleno Clarke as he hosts a Sunday night Hammond B-3 organ jam at the Harlem American Legion Hall. Pick and grin downtown in Washington Square Park as country comes to the city for a reunion of bluegrass musicians from the 1950s and ’60s. Then it’s up to the South Bronx to trace Latin music from Mambo to Hip-Hop. Plus music from and about the city from John Coltrane, Bob Dylan and other musicians that called New York home.