AMERICAN ROUTES
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now June 29th, 2022 (Hour 1)
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now

This July 4th weekend, we dive into the record crates to bring you music of celebration, hope and critique from Nina Simone, Randy Newman, Sly Stone and Jon Batiste. Then, the July 4th roots of American Routes as we go back to the 1990s, deep in the archive, for highlights from The American Roots Independence Day concerts at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Join us for spectacular stage performances by the urbane blues hero Charles Brown, the Texas Playboys with Johnny Gimble playing Western swing, Mexican-American Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Young Tuxedo Brass with New Orleans jazz, and Hawaiian music and song of slack-key guitar master Ledward Kaapana.

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THE SONIC JOURNEY OF ALAN LOMAX: RECORDING AMERICA AND THE WORLD

November 18th, 2015

American Routes follows the journeys made by folklorist Alan Lomax as he documented the diversity of the traditional music of America, in the face of what he felt was the increased threat by popular “monoculture.” We’ll look into Lomax’s work as a sound recordist, cultural theorist, radio host and above all, shaper of 20th century pop culture through his discoveries.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: "Wolverine Blues #1" Jelly Roll Morton
    Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, Rounder
  • "Rock Island Line" Lead Belly
    Lead Belly Legacy Vol. 1: Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, Smithsonian Folkways
  • "Do Re Me" Woody Guthrie
    Alan Lomax Popular Songbook, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Po' Lazarus" James Carter and the Prisoners
    The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey- Bad Man Ballads, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Old Chrisholm Trail" Moses "Clear Rock" Platt
    Deep River of Song: Black Texicans, Rounder
  • excerpt: "I've Been Having Troubles" Heuston Earns
    Prison Talk tape from Alan Lomax Archive, unreleased
  • "Midnight Special" Creedence Clearwater Revival
    Hot Stuff, Fantasy
  • Instrumental: "John Henry" Glen Stoneman
    Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads & Breakdowns, Rounder
  • excerpt: "I'll Be Rested (When the Roll is Called)" Roosevelt Graves and Brother
    Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Revenant
  • excerpt: "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" Robert Johnson
    King of the Delta Blues Singers, Columbia/Legacy
  • CLIP: Jelly Roll Morton interview at the Library of Congress
    Jelly Roll Morton: the Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, Rounder
  • excerpt: "King Porter Stomp" Jelly Roll Morton
    Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Libary of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax, Rounder
  • "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say" Jelly Roll Morton
    I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say , RCA
  • excerpt: "How Long?" Lead Belly
    Go Down Old Hannah, Rounder
  • "Bourgeois Blues" Taj Mahal
    Folkways: A Vision Shared, Columbia
  • excerpt: "Talking Dust Bowl Blues" Woody Guthrie
    Library of Congress, Rounder
  • CLIP: Woody Guthrie interview at the Library of Congress
    Library of Congress, Rounder
  • "Pretty Boy Floyd" Woody Guthrie
    Woody at 100, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Instrumental: "Sourwood Mountain" Hobart Smith
    Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads & Breakdowns, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Corn Rigs" Jack Armstrong's Barnstormer's Band
    World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Rock Island Line" Lonnie Donegan
    Rock Island Line: The Singles Anthology, Sanctuary Records Group
  • excerpt: "New Year's Day Tarentella" Putipu Band of Capri
    Songs of Christmas From the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
  • CLIP: Lomax talks "Folksong '59"
  • "Rock Island Line" Little Richard and Fishbone
    Folkways: A Vision Shared, Columbia
  • CLIP: Lomax Radio: Klezmer to Jazz Radio sign-off
  • Instrumental: "Forest City Jump" Forrest City Joe, Sonny Boy Rogers & Thomas Martin
    Sounds of the South, Atlantic

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: "O Day" Georgia Sea Island Singers
    The Alan Lomax Collections: Southern Journey-Georgia Sea Islands, Rounder
  • "Brown Girl in the Ring" Children at the San Juan Girls' Government School in San Juan, Trinidad
    Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Madriga Medley" Bann Madigra Kenscoff
    Alan Lomax's Recordings in Haiti: 1936-1937, Estate of Alan Lomax/Harte Recordings
  • excerpt: "Mwen Tete (I'm Stubborn)" Rara Ste. Therese
    Alan Lomax's Recordings in Haiti: 1936-1937, Estate of Alan Lomax/ Harte Recordings
  • "J'ai fiat tout le tour du pays" Jimmy Peters and Ring Dance Singers
    Alan and John A. Lomax Cajun & Creole Music II 1934-37, Rounder
  • excerpt: "Wind Howlin' Blues" David "Honeyboy" Edwards
    Deep River of Song: Mississippi- the Blues Lineage, Rounder
  • CLIP: Honeyboy Edwards interview from 1942 field trip
  • "Walking Blues" Son House, Fiddlin' Joe Martin, Willie Brown, Leroy Williams
    Deep River of Song: Mississippi- The Blues Lineage, Rounder
  • CLIP: Muddy Waters interview
    The Complete Plantation Recordings, Chess
  • "I Be's Troubled" Muddy Waters
    The Complete Plantation Recordings, Chess
  • "Hootchie Coochie Man" Muddy Waters
    Alan Lomax Presents Folk Song Festival at Carnegie Hall, United Artists
  • Instrumental: "Arkansas Traveler" Hobart Smith
    Blue Ridge Legacy, Rounder
  • CLIP: Ballads, Blues & Bluegrass film
  • "Going Down South" Fred McDowell
    from the Alan Lomax Archive, unreleased
  • "You Got to Move" The Rolling Stones
    Sticky Fingers, Virgin
  • CLIP: Preston Smith welcoming Lomax
    from the Alan Lomax Archive, unreleased
  • excerpt: "Drunken Hiccups" Hobart Smith
    Southern Journey: Sheep Sheep Don'tcha Know the Road, Rounder
  • "The Farmer's Curst Wife" Estil C. Ball
    Sounds of the South/Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Rounder
  • "Motorpsycho Nightmare" Bob Dylan
    Another Side of Bob Dylan, Columbia
  • Instrumental: "Whoa Mule" Mainer Band
    Sounds of the South, Atlantic
  • "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" Mrs. Sidney Carter
    The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey 61 Highway, Rounder
  • "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" Emmylou Harris, Allison Krauss, Gillian Welch
    O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Mercury
  • "I'm Goin' Home" Ervin Webb and the Prisoners
    The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey 61 Highway, Rounder
  • SEGMENT: Como, MS
  • End Bed: "Hen Duck" Lonnie Young, Ed Young, and Lonnie Young Jr.
    Sounds of the South/Blue Ridge Mountain Music, Atlantic

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 29th, 2022

    MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US! AMERICAN ROUTES INDEPENDENCE DAY THEN & NOW

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  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

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  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

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