By mail, by ballot box, by pulling a lever or pushing a button on November 5th, Americans will exercise their democratic right to vote for President, Senators, Congresspeople and, in many local elections, for legislators and judges to mosquito control officers and dogcatchers. It’s a big one folks! So we’ve created a soundtrack in words and music to get you to the polls. With jazz and gospel takes on American anthems; cool versions of civil rights songs like “If I Had a Hammer” and “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”;  blues treatments warning “Be Careful How You Vote!”; a soul variation on “This Land is Your Land"; and songs about revolution… and restraint. It’s time to face the music and vote!

Charley Crockett from south Texas has risen to country stardom as a deep-voiced, drifting cowboy blues singer/guitarist with a well-traveled history of playing street corners, subway stops and honky-tonks. Charley talks about how music has sustained him in the rough life of a 21st Century rambler. Then, a family bluegrass band from Southwest Virginia, Springfield Exit-lead by wife and husband Linda and David Lay, who share their stories of growing up with music, starting their own band and farming tomatoes. Plus music from Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, Freddy Fender, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

Wilco frontman, Jeff Tweedy tells of the impact on his songs of growing up in the blue collar town, Belleville, Illinois. Music became his creative outlet in high school and lead to founding the seminal Americana band, Uncle Tupelo. We hear from Jeff in his Chicago studio “The Loft” about the emergence of Wilco and the place that making music has in his life, including work with Woody Guthrie’s lyrics and producing records with Mavis Staples. In Bentonia, Mississippi, playing blues and running the Blue Front Cafe, has been a lifetime role for guitarist Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Duck talks about juke joints and moonshine in the Jim Crow South til now— and how he got the name Duck. We’ll also hear music of jukes, honky-tonks and nightclubs from Hank Williams and George Jones to Bessie Smith and Mary Lou Williams.

It’s an American Routes live session with the Piano Prince of New Orleans, Davell Crawford, a fine singer and wily raconteur who grew up in Lafayette and New Orleans. We’ll also hear some of his and our piano heroes from South Louisiana and beyond: James Booker, Professor Longhair, and Ray Charles, as well as Davell’s grandfather, Sugar Boy Crawford. Then, it’s our tribute to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the second Monday of October, with an array of Native American voices and music from the Black Lodge Singers, Dennis Banks, Link Wray, and Redbone. Plus archival and current conversations with Assiniboine Cree Singers from Montana, French-speaking Houmas from Louisiana and vocal harmonies from the women of Ulali. 

This week, feel the Pan-Latin vibe with guests Flaco Jiménez and Eddie Palmieri. San Antonio native and king of the conjunto accordion, Jiménez recalls his father’s influence on his playing. And NuYorican jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri talks about reshaping Latin bands with his La Perfecta group in the early 1960s. Plus, hear how Latin music influenced American roots rock, jazz and even Cajun music.