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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DANCE AROUND IN YOUR BONES: HALLOWEEN, ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS

October 27th, 2021

It’s Halloween night, then Toussaint (All Saints Day) and All Souls Day, also Dia de los Muertos. We mark the season with songs and stories of hauntings, voodoo, and the afterlife in a devout and disruptive mix that honors and humours the dead, past and present. Hear from native New Orleanians Dr. John and Charles Neville about their encounters with the spirit world, and a trip to the local botanica in search of potions and charms to conjure good luck. Then California ofrenda maker Ofelia Esparza reveals the meanings behind her altar work for remembering loved ones on the Day of the Dead. Plus holiday and holy day sounds from Cassandra Wilson, Muddy Waters, Ana Tijoux, Gene Vincent and Santana.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Deorc Sceadu (Dark Shadows) Dirty Dozen Brass Band
    Open Up Whatchu Gonna Do For the Rest of Your Life, Sony
  • Haunted House Lonnie Johnson & Elmer Snowden
    Blues and Ballads, Fantasy
  • The Skeleton in the Closet Louis Armstrong
    Lost Halloween, UMG
  • Tain't No Sin To Take off Your Skin (and Dance Around in Your Bones) Fred Hall
    Halloween Classics, Sony
  • Louisiana Blues Muddy Waters
    Muddy Waters, Chess
  • Run the Voodoo Down Cassandra Wilson
    Cassandra Wilson--Traveling Miles, Blue Note
  • Instrumental: Ti-Na-Na Dr. John
    Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack The Legendary Sessions V. 1, Clean Cuts
  • Clip: Charles Neville

    Listen
  • Voodoo Neville Brothers
    Yellow Moon, UMG
  • SEGMENT: F & F Botanica

    Listen
  • Clip: Dr. John

    Listen
  • I've Been Hoodood Dr. John
    In the Right Place, Warner
  • Evil Eye The Sonics
    Single, RKO Unique
  • Evil Eye Charles Jordan and John Gilmore
    Blowing in from Chicago--Clifford Gordan and John Gilmore, Blue Note
  • Instrumental: White Ghost Shivers The New Orleans Owls
    Jazz the World Forgot Vol. 2, Yazoo
  • Spooky Dusty Springfield
    Love Songs, Warner
  • My Man's an Undertaker Dinah Washington
    The Fabulous Miss D! The Keynote, Decca And Mercury Singles 1943-1953, Hip-O
  • Season of the Witch Lou Rawls
    Lou Rawls--I Can't Make it on My Own, The Axelrod Years, Capitol
  • Witchin' Hour Blues Tampa Red
    Song Collection, Jazz Experience
  • End Bed: The Ghoul Jack Marshall
    Lost Halloween, UMG

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Algiers Hoodoo Woman Dr. Michael White
    Dancing in the Sky, Basin Street Records
  • I Put a Spell on You Nina Simone
    The Best of Nina Simone, Verve
  • Don't Let the Devil Ride Campbell Brothers and John Medeski
    Can You Feel It?, Ropeadope
  • Race with the Devil Gene Vincent
    Dance to the Bop, Capitol
  • Skeleton Fight Mack Allen Smith
    Mack Allen Smith: The Early Years 1962-1967, Fat Possum
  • Instrumental: La Llorona Mariachi Garibaldi
    La Discoteca del Siglo- Historia de la Música Ranchera en el Siglo XX, Vol. 1, Discos Fuentes
  • SEGMENT: Ofelia Esparza

    Listen
  • Que Me Llevan Canciones La Dinastia De Tuzlantla, Michoacán
    Single, El Rancho Music
  • Hasta La Tumba Flaco Jimenez
    Un Mojado Sin Licencia and Other Hits from the 1960s, Arhoolie
  • Calaveritas Ana Tijoux and Celso Piña
    Single, Firebrand Records
  • Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen Santana
    Abraxas, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Blues on the Moon Raful Neal
    YouTube,
  • Dying Crap Shooter Blues Blind Willie McTell
    Atlanta Twelve String, Atlantic
  • Hades Pleads Parker Millsap
    The Very Last Day, Oklahoma Records
  • See That My Grave is Kept Clean Lightnin Hopkins
    Lightnin Hopkins, Smithsonian Folkways
  • End Bed: Didn't He Ramble/Closer Walk with Thee Dr. John
    Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack: The Legendary Sessions, Vol. 2, Clean Cuts

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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