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

EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

March 9th, 2011

Earl Scruggs’ legendary banjo playing, aptly named “Scruggs Style,” has left its mark on American pop culture and inspired generations of banjo players. In the late 1960s, Scruggs, along with his sons, bravely crossed musical boundaries, but his musical journey really started back at the beginnings of bluegrass. We’ll talk to Earl and his sons Randy and Gary about performing on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and why he doesn’t need to crack jokes about the banjo. New Hampshire-born folk singer songwriter Tom Rush may have gone to Harvard and studied with a ballad scholar, but he still knows how to sing the blues. We’ll visit with Rush to learn more about Boston’s folk scene in the 1960s, his time as a radio DJ and his inspired approach to songwriting.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Nashville Skyline Rag Flatt & Scruggs
    The Essential, Columbia/Legacy
  • Hey Porter Earl Scruggs Revue with Johnny Cash
    The Earl Scruggs Revue: Anniversary Special Volume One & Two, Sony BMG
  • Move Along Train Levon Helm
    Electric Dirt, Vanguard
  • SEGMENT: Earl Scruggs Pt. 1

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Cripple Creek Junie Scruggs
    American Banjo Three Finger and Scruggs Style, Smithsonian Folkways
  • SEGMENT: Earl Scruggs Pt. 2

    Listen
  • CLIP: Jerry Garcia on slowing down Earl Scruggs record
  • Ode to Earl Bela Fleck
    The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Volume 2, Warner
  • Glendale Train New Riders of the Purple Sage
    New Riders of the Purple Sage, Columbia
  • Cease Fire Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
    Exploration, New West
  • Instrumental: R.S. Stomp Roosevelt Sykes
    Blues by Roosevelt 'The Honeydripper' Sykes, Smithsonian Folkways
  • La Valse de Meche Red Stick Ramblers
    My Suitcase is Always Packed, Sugar Hill
  • Be Real Freda & the Firedogs
    Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm, Vanguard
  • Nightlife John Doe & the Sadies
    Country Club, Yep Roc
  • St. James Infirmary Allen Toussaint
    The Bright Mississippi, Nonesuch
  • Baby Baby Blues Josh White
    Empty Bed Blues, Elektra
  • End Bed: Tipitina Allen Toussaint
    American Routes original recording,

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: San Francisco Bay Blues Tom Rush
    Blues, Songs & Ballads, Fantasy
  • Good Time Music The Lovin' Spoonful
    Forever Changing: Golden Age of Elektra Records 1963-1973, Rhino
  • Sugar Mama Lil' Son Jackson
    The Complete Imperial Recordings, Capitol
  • Love Me Like a Man Bonnie Raitt
    The Bonnie Raitt Collection, Warner Bros.
  • Two Trains Running Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis
    Forever Changing: Golden Age of Elektra, Rhino
  • Mobile-Texas Line Tom Rush
    The Very Best of Tom Rush: No Regrets, Columbia
  • Instrumental: She's a Woman The Charles River Valley Boys
    Forever Changing: Golden Age of Elektra Records 1963-1973, Rhino
  • San Francisco Bay Blues Jessie Fuller
    Brother Lowdown, Fantasy
  • On the Road Again Tom Rush
    Take a Little Walk with Me, Elektra
  • Who Do You Love Bo Diddley
    His Best, MCA
  • Blood & Fire Niney the Observer
    Reggae Anthology: Niney the Observer - Roots with Quality, VP
  • Kids These Days Tom Rush
    The Very Best of Tom Rush: No Regrets, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Flat Foot & Buck Dance John Jackson
    Don't Let the Deal Go Down, Arhoolie
  • SEGMENT: Tom Rush

    Listen
  • The Circle Game Joni Mitchell
    Hits , Reprise
  • Urge for Going Tom Rush
    The Circle Game, Elektra
  • End Bed: Rockport Sunday Tom Rush
    The Circle Game, Elektra

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

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  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

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  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

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