Join us for a two-hour visit with John Prine as he walks us through his catalog and his life—from urban Illinois backwards to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. For over 35 years the singer and guitarist has written and performed songs which present a slightly off-kilter and darkly humorous look at working class America. We’ll also talk agitprop with the man who wrote Vietnam-era protest songs like “Take the Star Our of the Window” and “Sam Stone,” and environmental broadsides such as “Paradise.” There’s also performances of Prine’s songs by others and more in this two-hour visit with one of America’s leading songwriters.

Lay back and take it easy while American Routes totes that barge for you with songs and stories of work on this holiday weekend. We remember Robert Young, better known as Washboard Slim, and learn how a work implement becomes a musical instrument. Plus words and music of French Louisiana from the recent documentary I Always Do My Collars First. And meet some local five o’clock heroes — the drivers and mechanics that keep the New Orleans streetcars rolling, as well as the men and women that ride them.

It’s hurricane season on the Gulf Coast. To commemorate it we gather songs made post-Katrina and Rita… as well as some enduring classics. Dr. John makes a soapbox of his piano and speaks out in song against the governmental missteps following our country’s greatest unnatural disaster. New Orleans jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White joins us to talk about his new songs in traditional style made following the loss of his home and musical instruments to the flood. Plus the huge influx of talented outsiders is revealed in interviews with New Yorkers who have, post-storm, become New Orleanians—what brought them to and keeps them in the Crescent City.

Take a two-hour trip to Music City, U.S.A. as we hit the high-class and the low-class joints. Nashville has been a hub of playing and recording country music for over 50 years while also generating a steady stream of regional R&B hits. Come backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and meet the people who make it work, from ushers and announcers to long-time cast members Porter Wagoner, Marty Stuart and others. Pop into the venerable Gruhn’s Guitars, grab a bite at the Pancake Pantry, and pay respects at country music’s finest final resting place, Spring Hill Cemetery.