AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté June 7th, 2023 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Koutaté

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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AMERICAN ROUTES ON INSTAGRAM

LABOR DAY WITH ARCHIE GREEN

September 2nd, 1998

Workers of the world unite as we celebrate Labor Day with thoughts from shoeshiners young and old. Sha-na na-na, sha-na na-na na…

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Heigh-Ho From Snow White
    The Music of Disney - A Legacy in Song, Walt Disney Records
  • Get a Job The Silhouettes
    A Child's Celebration of Rock & Roll, Music for Little People
  • Don't Try to Keep up With the Joneses Dizzy Gillespie
    Jambo Caribe, Verve
  • Big Boss Man Jimmy Reed
    Jimmy Reed - 18 Greatest Hits, Motown
  • Funky Boss Beastie Boys
    Check Your Head, Capitol
  • Detroit City Bobby Bare
    The Essential Bobby Bare, RCA
  • It's A Living The Delevantes
    Long About That Time, Rounder
  • Instrumental: A Hard Day's Night Bar-Kays
    The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968, Stax/Atlantic
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy Red Foley
    Only Country 1950-1954, JCI
  • Work, Work, Work Lee Dorsey
    Wheelin' and Dealin', Arista
  • When Will We Be Paid Staples Singers
    The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles 1968-1971, Stax
  • Instrumental: Red Wing Joe Stephenson
    Moonlight on the Colorado, Adobe
  • INTERVIEW: Archie Green

    Listen
  • Cable Car Operator Dale Mead
    Work's Many Voices - Vol.2, Arhoolie
  • Dark As A Dungeon Merle Travis
    Folk Songs of the Hills, Capitol
  • Solidarity Forever Pete Seeger & the Almanac Singers
    Talking Union, Folkways
  • Workin' Man Blues Merle Haggard
    Greatest Hits Volume 1, Curb
  • Cumberland Blues Grateful Dead
    Workingman's Dead, Warner Brothers
  • Work Song Nina Simone
    Nina Simone Anthology - The Colpix Years, Rhino
  • Give Me Back My Job Carl Perkins
    The Oxford American Southern sampler,
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Hard Working Man Blues Jay McShann & his Jazz Men
    Kansas City Blues 1944-1949, Capitol

HOUR two

  • Sing As We Go medley Percival Mackey & his Band
    Music While You Work, Empress
  • Joe Hill Paul Robeson
    Don't Mourn - Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Mr. President Have Pity on the Working Man Randy Newman
    Good Old Boys, Reprise
  • Busted Ray Charles
    Ingredients in a Recipe For Soul/Have A Smile With Me, Rhino
  • Beautician Blues Roy Brown
    Blues Deluxe, Charley
  • Business Woman Camille Howard
    Works Many Voices Vol. 1, Arhoolie
  • Instrumental: Shoe Shiner's Drag Jelly Roll Morton
    Chicago: The Red Hot Peppers, Smithsonian Collection
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Shoe-Shine Boy Count Basie
    Count Basie and the Kansas City 7, Impulse
  • Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie Ford
    Only Country 1955-1959, JCI
  • Hey Boss Man Jay Stutes
    Works Many Voices Vol. 1, Arhoolie
  • Mr. Charlie Pt. 2 Lightnin' Hopkins
    Lightnin' Hopkins: Morning Blues - Charly Blues Masterworks Vol. 8, Charly
  • Maggie's Farm Bob Dylan
    Bringing it All Back Home, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Ouachita Run Alvin Youngblood Hart
    Territory, Hannibal
  • Pastures of Plenty Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land - The Asch Recordings Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Mojado Sin Licencia Flaco Jimenez
    Mojado Sin Licencia, Arhoolie
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Lazy Bones Leon Redbone
    No Regrets, Sugar Hill
  • Nice Work if You Can Get It Billie Holiday
    The Billie Holiday Story Vol. 3, Columbia
  • Early to Bed Morphine
    Like Swimming, Dreamworks/Ryko
  • End Bed: Work Song Duke Ellington
    Black, Brown & Beige, Music Masters

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND AND BALLA KOUTATé

    Listen
  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

    Listen
  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

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