AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & Balla Kouyaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & Balla Kouyaté May 18th, 2022 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & Balla Kouyaté

It’s Blueswomen, Jazzmen, African roots and branches. Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland‘s father, the late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, brought her into his music as a child. As an adult, she found new ways to use blues to express her perspective. We’ll hear from some of Shemekia’s heroes including Etta James, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton. Then a conversation and performance by Boston-based Mandinka balafon player Balla Kouyaté and music inspired by and from the continent of Africa from Randy Weston, Miriam Makeba and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Shemekia Copeland photo by Mike White

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DELTA DAILY LIFE

October 13th, 1999

A musical return to that fount of styles called the blues as we take a musical tour of the Mississippi Delta and also visit kinfolk in Memphis, Chicago, and Oakland. We’ll hear about blues roots and routes in conversations with singer Little Milton, Delta Deejay Early Wright—famous for his “snake alerts”—and at a Clarksdale, Mississippi, barbershop where stropping the razor to a beat is an art form.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Crossroads Hound Dog Taylor
    Genuine Houserocking Music, Alligator
  • Polk Salad Annie Tony Joe White
    The Best of, Warner
  • Highway 61 Blues Jack Kelley & his S. Memphis Jug Band
    Violin, Sing the Blues for Me, Old Hat
  • Jug Band Music Lucinda Williams
    Ramblin', Smithsonian Folkways
  • Down Home Girl The Coasters
    50 Coastin Classics, Rhino
  • INTERVIEW: Blues Barber - Wade Walton
  • Instrumental: Sad Hours Little Walter
    His Best, MCA/Chess
  • Death Letter Son House
    Blues masters, Vol.7, Rhino
  • Death Letter Cassandra Wilson
    Visions of Jazz: The First Century, Blue Note
  • Can't Hardly Stand It Charlie Feathers
    Get With It, Revenant
  • It's Bad You Know RL Burnside
    Come On In, Verve
  • INTERVIEW: Little Milton

    Listen
  • Lookin' For My Baby Little Milton
    The Sun Masters, Rounder
  • Ol' Man River Gene Ammons
    Gene Ammons: Jug, Fantasy
  • Ol' Man River Kenneth Spencer w/full orchestra & chorus
    from 1946 revival of Showboat,

HOUR two

  • Long John Lightning and Group
    Afro-American Spiritual, Work-Songs And Ballads, Rounder
  • Our Father Five Blind Boys of Mississippi
    Jubilation Vol.2, Rhino
  • Down in Mississippi Pops Staples
    Peace to the Neighborhood, PointBlank
  • Oh Freedom Hollis Watkins
    Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, Smithsonian-Folkways
  • Change Is Gonna Come Otis Redding
    Otis! - The Definitive Redding, vol. 1, Rhino
  • Instrumental: Call Him By His Name Glenn Lee
    Sacred Steel, Arhoolie
  • Natchez Mississippi Blues Lewis Brozeville Five
    The Jive is Jumpin: Vocal Groups, WestSide
  • The Natchez Burnin' Howlin' Wolf
    The Chess Box, MCA
  • Love in Vain Rolling Stones
    Let It Bleed, ABKCO
  • Honky Tonk Women Ike&Tina Turner
    The Best Of, EMI
  • INTERVIEW: Early Wright
  • West Memphis Blues Sonny Boy Williamson II
    King Biscuit Time, Arhoolie
  • Roll Over Beethoven Carl Perkins
    The Classic, Bear Family
  • Instrumental: Sunshine Twist (You are My Sunshine) Jellyroll Kings
    Rockin' The Juke Joint Down, Earwig
  • Catfish Blues Taj Mahal/Toumani Diabate
    Kulanjan, Hannibal
  • Crawdad Hole Jessie Mae Hemphill
    She-Wolf, Highwater/HMG
  • My Home is in the Delta Buddy Guy & Junior Wells
    Alone & Acoustic, Alligator
  • Mississippi Delta Blues Jimmie Rodgers
    Last Sessions, Rounder
  • End Bed: Delta Bound Duke Ellington Orchestra featuring Ivie Anderson
    Presents Ivie Anderson, Atlantic

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • May 18th, 2022

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND & BALLA KOUYATé

    Listen
  • May 11th, 2022

    BREAKING OUT: BRITISH BLUES TO NEW ORLEANS BOUNCE

    Listen
  • May 4th, 2022

    KINGPINS OF THE GULF COAST: RODNEY CROWELL & DR. JOHN

    Listen
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