AMERICAN ROUTES
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now June 29th, 2022 (Hour 1)
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now

This July 4th weekend, we dive into the record crates to bring you music of celebration, hope and critique from Nina Simone, Randy Newman, Sly Stone and Jon Batiste. Then, the July 4th roots of American Routes as we go back to the 1990s, deep in the archive, for highlights from The American Roots Independence Day concerts at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Join us for spectacular stage performances by the urbane blues hero Charles Brown, the Texas Playboys with Johnny Gimble playing Western swing, Mexican-American Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Young Tuxedo Brass with New Orleans jazz, and Hawaiian music and song of slack-key guitar master Ledward Kaapana.

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BLUES OLD & NEW: BLACK KEYS, ROBERT FINLEY & LUKE WINSLOW-KING

May 16th, 2018

We trace the musical DNA and psychic aura of the blues from its Delta roots to Chicago’s electric pioneers, across a patchwork of regional styles and modern day innovators. In an archival interview we talk with blues rockers the Black Keys of Akron, Ohio, about defying genre, eschewing nostalgia, and the blues progenitors who blurred labels like primitive and avant-garde. Age Don’t Mean a Thing for 65-year-old Louisiana bluesman Robert Finley, who caught a big break in the last couple years and is now rocking the mic and hitting the road harder than ever. From Cadillac, Michigan to the Crescent City, Luke Winslow-King recalls the bad times and breakups that gave him a deeper understanding of the blues and inspired him to make I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always. Plus, we load up the jukebox with our favorites from Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy, Johnny Burnette and Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Old Black Mattie Junior Kimbrough
    You Better Run-- The Essential Junior Kimbrough, Fat Possum
  • Blues Won't Give Me No Rest Henry Gray
    American Routes Recording at the Baton Rouge Blues Festival 2016,
  • Smoke Stack Lightnin' Howlin' Wolf
    Smoke Stack Lightning/You Can't Be Beat, Chess
  • The Train Kept A-Rollin' Johnny Burnette
    The Train Kept A-Rollin'/Honey Hush, Coral
  • Rock Around With Ollie Vee Buddy Holly
    That'll Be the Day/Rock Around with Ollie Vee, Decca
  • Instrumental: Ten Cent Pistol The Black Keys
    Brothers, Nonesuch
  • SEGMENT: The Black Keys

    Listen
  • In the Pines Robert Finley and Dan Auerbach
    The Murder Ballads, Easy Eye Sound
  • Pine Grove Blues Pine Leaf Boys
    Allons Boire un Coup: Cajun & Creole Drinking Songs, Valcour
  • Instrumental: Cotton Fields Bill Marx
    Jazz Kaleidoscope, Stardust
  • I Never Picked Cotton Johnny Cash
    Unchained--American II, American Recordings
  • Cotton Crop Blues James Cotton
    The Complete Sun Singles, Vol. 1- From the Vaults, Bear Family
  • SEGMENT: Robert Finley

    Listen
  • Rollin' Stone Muddy Waters
    Rollin' Stone/Walkin' Blues, Chess
  • Poor Black Mattie Samantha Fish
    Belle of the West, Ruf Records
  • End Bed: Most Things Haven't Worked Out Junior Kimbrough
    You Better Run--The Essential Junior Kimbrough, Fat Possum

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Interlude II Luke Winslow King
    Everlasting Arms, Bloodshot Records
  • I'm Glad Trouble Don't Last Always Luke Winslow King
    Trouble Don't Last Always, Bloodshot Records
  • First Time I Met the Blues Buddy Guy
    I Got My Eyes on You/First Time I Met the Blues, Chess
  • Trouble Blues Sam Cooke
    Night Beat, RCA
  • Night Life Willie Nelson
    Night Life/Rainy Day Blues, RCA
  • Crazy Arms Ray Price
    Crazy Arms/You Done Me Wrong, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams Preservation Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan
    Preservation Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan, Preservation Hall Recordings
  • Nothing But Trouble Lonnie Johnson
    Sings 24 Twelve Bar Blues, Highland
  • It's Right Here for Ya Blue Lu Barker with George Finola Band
    New Orleans Jazz Man and Raconteur, GHB Records
  • I'm Your Levee Man Luke Winslow King
    Everlasting Arms, Bloodshot Records
  • SEGMENT: Luke Winslow King

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Endless Summer Slack Key Jeff Peterson
    Slack Key Guitar: The Artistry of Jeff Peterson, Palm Records
  • Peaceful, Easy Feeling Eagles
    Eagles, Asylum
  • When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again Hank Thompson
    When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again/Who Left the Door to Heaven Open, Dot Records
  • Bluebird Bonnie Raitt
    Bonnie Raitt, Warner Brothers
  • That Lucky Old Sun Jerry Lee Lewis
    Classic Jerry Lee Lewis, Bear Family
  • Blue Skies Cassandra Wilson
    Blue Skies, JMT
  • End Bed: Sunny Side of the Street James Booker
    Junco Partner, Island

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 29th, 2022

    MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US! AMERICAN ROUTES INDEPENDENCE DAY THEN & NOW

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  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

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  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

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