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

  • Info
  • ABOUT
  • BEST OF
  • UPCOMING
  • ARCHIVE
  • SUPPORT
  • JOURNAL
  • STATIONS
  • MEDIA KIT
  • INDEX
  • STAFF
  • CONTACT
BROWSE BY DATE
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
  • 2002
  • 2001
  • 2000
  • 1999
  • 1998

SUPPORT GREAT STORYTELLING

We rely on your support to remain on air and online. Your contribution helps us bring you interviews with great American artists and the carefully curated music mix that you’ve enjoyed over the years.

Donate

 

AMERICAN ROUTES ON INSTAGRAM

ALABAMA BOUND

May 13th, 2009

American Routes takes a trip through the music of the Yellowhammer State—Alabama. Visit the Muscle Shoals Sound studio and find out what’s in the water around “the Shoals” to make it a historic hotbed for R&B hits by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and more. Also, a trip through Hank Williams’ childhood home in Georgiana, and W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence. And music from Shelby Lynne, the Birmingham Sunlights and the Delmore Brothers.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Sweet Home Alabama Mark Thornton
    Bluegrass Then and Now 25th Anniversary , CMH
  • Old Alabama B.B. and Group
    Prison Songs Vol.1: Murderous Home , Rounder
  • The Last Words of Copernicus Sacred Harp Singers
    Southern Journey Vol.1: Voices from the South , Rounder
  • Alabama The Louvin Brothers
    The Louvin Brothers: Tragic Songs of Life , Capitol
  • Alabam' Cowboy Copas
    30 Country Hits: History of Country Music , Gusto
  • When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabama Jubilaires
    Freedom's Front Door: Music of the Ellis Island Era 1900-1930 , Soundies
  • Instrumental: Tuxedo Junction Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra
    Masters of Jazz Vol.3: Big Bands of the '30s & '40s , Rhino
  • Excerpt of "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round"
    Freedom Songs: Selma, Alabama , Folkways
  • Rough and Rocky Road Heavenly Gospel Singers
    Birmingham Quartet Anthology , Clanka Lanka
  • It's Gonna Rain Birmingham Sunlights
    Folk Masters , Smithsonian Folkways
  • Betty's Place Willie King
    I Am the Blues , Willie King
  • They Call Me Big Mama Big Mama Thornton
    Hound Dog: The Peacock Recordings , MCA
  • Dark End of the Street Dan Penn
    Do Right Man , Proper
  • You Left the Water Running Otis Redding
    The Muscle Shoals Sound , Rhino
  • Instrumental: Dark End of the Street Ry Cooder
    Boomer's Story , Reprise
  • SEGMENT: Muscle Shoals Sound

    Listen
  • End Bed: Funky Broadway Jimmy Smith
    Walk on the Wild Side , Verve

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Medley Excelsior Band of Mobile
    Traditional Musics of Alabama, Vol.1 , AFA
  • SEGMENT: W.C. Handy Festival

    Listen
  • Yellow Dog Blues Louis Armstrong
    Plays W.C. Handy , Columbia/Legacy
  • Stars Fell on Alabama Billie Holiday
    The Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years , Verve
  • I'm Alabama Bound Jelly Roll Morton
    The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax , Rounder
  • Birmingham Randy Newman
    Good Old Boys , Reprise
  • CLIP: Shelby Lynne
  • Where I'm From Shelby Lynne
    I Am Shelby Lynne , Mercury
  • Instrumental: Fattening Frogs For Snakes Mobile Strugglers
    Mobile Strugglers & Louis James' String Band , American Music
  • Lost Highway Hank Williams
    The Original Singles Collection... Plus , PolyGram
  • Montgomery in the Rain Steve Young
    Seven Bridges Road , A&M
  • 72 (this highway's mean) Drive-By Truckers
    Southern Rock Opera , Lost Highway
  • Instrumental: Cold Cold Heart Original Drifting Cowboys Band
    Hank Williams Instrumentals , Landmark
  • SEGMENT: Hank Williams Boyhood Home & Museum

    Listen
  • Pan American Hank Williams
    The Original Singles Collection... Plus , PolyGram
  • I Saw the Light The Five Blind Boys of Alabama
    I Saw the Light , Liquid 8
  • I'm Going Back To Alabama The Delmore Brothers
    Delmore Brothers, Vol.2: Later Years 1933-1952 , JSP
  • Oh, Suzanna Tony Schwartz
    Camptown Races , Tony Schwartz

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
A|R

  • Donate
A|R AMERICAN ROUTES
  • ABOUT
  • BEST OF
  • ARCHIVE
  • UPCOMING
  • SUPPORT US
  • JOURNAL
  • STATIONS
  • STAFF
  • CONTACT
  • Tulane University
  • National Endowment for the Humanities
  • NEA
  • Louisiana Entertainment
  • PRX