American Routes is blues and jazz, gospel and soul, rockabilly and country, Cajun and swamp pop, Tejano, Latin… and beyond. Songs and stories from musicians describe a deep and diverse nation with sounds and styles shared by all Americans. From the bayous to the beltways, from crossroads to crosstown, on interstates and city streets, turn up your radio for the sonic journey!
American Routes—produced in New Orleans since 1998
New Orleans Jazz Banjo/Guitarist Danny Barker & American Routes Live with Detroit Brooks and his Syncopated Percolators
March 19, 2025
New Orleans musician and raconteur Danny Barker was a banjo and guitar hero—a major player in New York jazz who never forgot his French Creole roots in song and style. We look back on Danny's career, his life with wife and collaborator, the singer Blue Lu Barker, and his influence sustaining culture in the Crescent City. Then, current day guitar and banjo man, Detroit Brooks pays tribute to the Barker legacy with his band the Syncopated Percolators live at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
NEXT WEEK
Dreamers Then & Now, Vol. 2: Jesse Colin Young and Leyla McCalla
We peer into the minds of musical dreamers of the past and present, exploring dreams of love, immigration, and a more perfect union. We remember the late singer songmaker Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods, who spoke of the 60’s folk revival in Greenwich Village and his dreams realized in the anthemic 1967 song “Get Together.” Then, Haitian American cellist and singer Leyla McCalla describes her journey from New York to New Orleans, connecting the cultural histories she’d long dreamed of along the way. Plus dreamscapes from Rhiannon Giddens, Los Cenzontles, Mahalia Jackson and John Prine.
Jesse Colin Young performs for the California Saga 2 Charity Concert in Los Angeles California on July 3, 2019 - Photo by Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com
Compared to What?
It’s no secret these are troubled times regarding the role of government, political attacks and secrecy in a nation in conflict with itself. We asked our listeners to help pick music and musicians that deal with the troubles we’re facing, and we added a few songs and singers that fit the mood as best we could, including the Staple Singers, Allen Toussaint, Woody Guthrie, Toots and the Maytals, Son Volt, Carole King, John Coltrane, Los Super Seven, Dr. John, and Tom Waits. So we’re just trying to make it real, and the big question remains: Compared to What?
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University
The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University brings the world’s leading authors to the university’s uptown campus for a multi-day celebration for book lovers of all ages.
The fourth annual New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University will take place March 27-29, 2025, on Tulane’s uptown campus. The festival is free and open to the public.
To find out more about the festival, including the 2025 schedule, click here.