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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GOING DOWN THE ROAD WITH WOODY GUTHRIE

July 9th, 2014

American Routes heralds the birthday of our nation’s greatest roving troubadour and social commentator, Woody Guthrie, with a two-hour special dedicated to his life in music. We’ll visit with friends and relatives who share tales of Guthrie’s trials and triumphs, from Okemah, Oklahoma to Coney Island, New York. Guthrie’s children, Nora and Arlo, reflect on their father’s life, scholar Guy Logsdon discusses Guthrie’s Dust Bowl days and Pete Seeger shares the backstory to Woody’s anthem for the “down and outers.” Plus music and memories from Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Moses Asch, Bob Dylan and so many others.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad Woody Guthrie
    My Dusty Road, Rounder
  • Philadelphia Lawyer Rose Maddox
    Sing a Little Song of Heartache, Bear Family
  • I. Oklahoma
  • excerpt: Oklahoma Hills James Talley
    Woody Guthrie and Songs of My Oklahoma Home, Cimarron
  • excerpt: Hen Cackle Woody Guthrie
    Muleskinner Blues, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Hard Travelin' Woody Guthrie
    Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3, Smithsonian Folkways
  • II. From Pampa, TX to Los Angeles
  • excerpt: Big City Ways Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: I Ain't Got No Home (In This World Anymore) Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithsonian Folkways
  • I Ain't Got No Home Bruce Springsteen
    A Vision Shared, Columbia
  • except: I Ain't Got Nobody Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Instrumental: Square Dance Medley Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Cisco Houston
    My Dusty Road, Rounder
  • III. Dust Bowl and the Grapes of Wrath
  • excerpt: Talking Dust Bowl Blues Woody Guthrie
    Dust Bowl Ballads, BMG
  • Pastures of Plenty Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: The Ballad of Tom Joad Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: I Don't Feel At Home on the Bowery No More Jimi Zhivago
    My Name is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town, 429 Records
  • excerpt: Hard Times Woody Guthrie
  • Sowing on the Mountain The Flatlanders
    Hills and Valleys, Nonesuch
  • Instrumental: Train Breakdown Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Cisco Houston
    My Dusty Road, Rounder
  • excerpt: Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportees) Los Super Seven
    Los Super Seven, RCA
  • IV. Greed
  • excerpt: Do Re Mi Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithsonian Folkways
  • California Stars Billy Bragg and Wilco
    Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, Nonesuch
  • End Bed: Blood of the Lamb Billy Bragg & Wilco
    Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, Nonesuch

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: So Long It's Been Good to Know You Woody Guthrie
    Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3, Smithsonian Folkways
  • I. This Land is our Land
  • Will Geer Reading Woody Guthrie Will Geer
    Folkways: The Original Vision, Smithsonian Folkways
  • This Land is Your Land Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
    Naturally, Daptone
  • excerpt: This Land is Your Land Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol.1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: When the World is on Fire The Carter Family
    In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain, Bear Family
  • excerpt: This Land is Your Land Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol.1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Instrumental: This Land is Your Land Arlo Guthrie and the Dillards
    32 Cents Postage Due, Rising Son Records
  • II. NYC
  • excerpt: New York Town Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol.1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: Hard Ain't It Hard Jimi Zhivago and Boo Reiners
    My Name is New York: Ramblin' Around Woody Guthrie's Town, 429 Records
  • excerpt: People's Hootnany Woody Guthrie & Almanac Singers
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithonian Folkways
  • excerpt: I Know the Night Jackson Browne, Rob Wasseman & Woody Guthrie
    My Name is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town , 429 Records
  • excerpt: I'm Blowin' Down This Old Dusty Road Woody Guthrie
    Dust Bowl Ballads, BMG
  • excerpt: So Long, It's Been Good to Know You Woody Guthrie andCisco Houston
    That's Why We're Marching: World War II and the American Folk Song Movement, Smithsonian Folkways
  • excerpt: Untitled Jimi Zhivago
    My Name is New York: Ramblin' Around Woody Guthrie's Town, 429 Records
  • We Shall Be Free Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly
    Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs, Folkways
  • Instrumental: Not Fade Away/ Going Down the Road Feeling Bad Grateful Dead
    Grateful Dead, Rhino
  • Vigilante Man Ry Cooder
    Into the Purple Valley, Reprise
  • Pretty Boy Floyd Bob Dylan
    Folkways: A Vision Shared,
  • III. Woody as a Writer
  • excerpt: Hard Ain't It Hard Jimi Zhivago and Boo Reiners
    My Name is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town, 429 Records
  • excerpt: Bound For Glory Jimi Zhivago
    My Name is New York: Ramblin' Around Woody Guthrie's Town, 429 Records
  • Talking Hard Work Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Why, Oh Why Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection, Smithsonian Folkways
  • IV. Fighting Huntington's
  • excerpt: Talkin' New York Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan, Columbia
  • excerpt: Ramblin' Round Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • End Bed: Raincrow Bill Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Cisco Houston
    My Dusty Road, Rounder

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • May 18th, 2022

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

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  • May 11th, 2022

    BREAKING OUT: BRITISH BLUES TO NEW ORLEANS BOUNCE

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  • May 4th, 2022

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

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