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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MUSIC OF HEALING & ELIXIRS: LITTLE FREDDIE KING, ANDERS OSBORNE, DR. MICHAEL WHITE & MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION

October 20th, 2021

From healing songs and expressions of pain to hoodoo cure-alls and feel-good elixirs, we explore the musical world of sickness and health. We talk with Mississippi-born guitarist Little Freddie King about how the blues saved many of his nine lives. New Orleans songwriter and rocker Anders Osborne tells of a journey that led to self-medicating with pain relievers that do more harm than good, and his eventual recovery. Tim Duffy of the Music Maker Relief Foundation in North Carolina explains the curative properties of music on society and his work with Taj Mahal to help deep-roots musicians in need. And clarinetist Dr. Michael White talks of jazz and its role in his and New Orleans’ recovery after Katrina. Plus, medicine show troubadours hawk their tonics, Dr. John prescribes Mama Roux’s healing potions, and Huey “Piano” Smith gives us a serious case of “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu.”

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: One Dime Blues Etta Baker and Taj Mahal
    Etta Baker with Taj Mahal, Music Makers Relief Foundation
  • W.S. Wolcott Medicine Show The Band
    Stage Fright, Capitol Records
  • The Great Medical Menagerist Harmonica Frank
    The Great Medical Menagerist, Adelphi Records
  • Mother Marie Radio Announcement from Kevin Nutt
  • Mama Roux Dr. John
    Gris-Gris, Atco
  • High Blood Pressure Huey "Piano" Smith
    The Best of Ace Records: The R&B Hits, Rock 'n' Roll/Scott Brothers
  • Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clown
    The Best of Ace Records: The R&B Hits, Rock 'n' Roll/Scott Brothers
  • Instrumental: Old Yellow Boy Little Freddie King
    Messin' Around the Living Room, MadeWright
  • SEGMENT: Little Freddie King

    Listen
  • Bowleg Rooster, Duckleg Hen/Sweet Georgia Brown Papa Lemon Nash
    New Orleans Ukulele Maestro & Tent Show Troubadour, Arhoolie
  • Jug Band Music The Lovin' Spoonful
    Daydream, Kama Sutra
  • Trenchtown Rock Bob Marley
    Trenchtown Rock: Anthology 1968-'78, Trojan
  • Instrumental: Clickin' Whistlin' Britches
    We Are the Music Makers, Music Maker Relief Foundation
  • Instrumental: Freight Train Boogie Captain Luke
    We Are the Music Makers, Music Maker Relief Foundation
  • SEGMENT: Tim Duffy

    Listen
  • End Bed: Peace Behind the Bridge Carolina Chocolate Drops
    Genuine Negro Jig, Nonesuch

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Strong Anders Osborne
    Flower Box, Independent
  • SEGMENT: Anders Osborne

    Listen
  • Healing Hands of Time Willie Nelson
    Willie and the Boys: Stash Vol. 2, Sony
  • Age Don't Mean a Thing Robert Finley
    Age Don't Mean a Thing, Big Legal Mess
  • Dr. Feelgood (Love is Serious Business) Aretha Franklin
    I Never Love a Man the Way I Love You, Atlantic
  • Instrumental: Backporch Soul The Swampers
    Muscle Shoals Has Got the Swampers, Muscle Shoals Sound Records
  • Pain Pills Angaleena Presley
    American Middle Class, Slate Creek Records
  • Sick Feelin' Blues Lightnin' Hopkins
    Lightnin' and the Blues, Herald
  • I'm a Fool for a Cigarette/Feelin' Good Ry Cooder
    Paradise and Lunch, Warner Brothers
  • Too Much Alcohol JB Hutto and His Hawks
    Chicago/The Blues/Today!, Vol. 1, Vanguard
  • Goodbye Booze Old Crow Medicine Show
    Eutaw, Blood Donor Records
  • Instrumental: House of the Rising Sun Dr. Michael White
    Adventures in New Orleans Jazz Volume 1, Basin Street
  • Streets of Laredo Johnny Cash
    American IV: The Man Comes Around, American
  • House of the Rising Sun Doc and Richard Watson
    Third Generation Blues, Sugar Hill
  • SEGMENT: Dr. Michael White

    Listen
  • End Bed: Will the Circle Be Unbroken Dr. Michael White
    Blue Crescent, Basin Street

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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