This holiday weekend, we’ve hand picked some of the best live performances on American Routes. From Willie Nelson in our studio to soul queen Irma Thomas and other roots music heroes at Rock N Bowl, Preservation Hall and the Civic Theater in New Orleans. We feature blues harpist Charlie Musselwhite, Baton Rouge blues pianist, Henry Gray, New Orleans traditional jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White and Topsy Chapman. Plus the Cajun band Beausoleil and zydeco accordionist Geno Delafose. And, from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Los Texmaniacs and the Chuck Brown Go-Go band. So, turn on the radio and take a break from work (just two hours) for American Routes!

This week on American Routes, we’ll first take a tour of the Lewis Family Museum and liquor store in Ferriday, LA, where Jerry Lee Lewis’ sister Frankie Jean shows us around their family home. Then we’ll visit with the mayor of Ferriday and others who remember Haney’s Big House, which burned down in 1966. Across the river in Natchez, MS, bluesman Hezekiah Early looks back on playing in Haney’s house band. Back down in New Orleans, we’ll talk with Treme Brass Band’s leader and snare drummer Benny Jones and bass drummer Joe Lastie about their late drummer and friend Uncle Lionel Batiste.

Music made by couples, families and siblings often has a special quality. The same is true of people who have a musical attraction to one another: Lennon and McCartney, or Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Country traditionalist and mandolin player Marty Stuart was 12 years old when he met country chanteuse Connie Smith at a road show in his native Mississippi. Decades later Marty and Connie were married. They talk about their spring-fall relationship and making music together as “old souls.” We’ll talk to Joan Baez about writing for Bob Dylan and her singing his songs. Plus the Black Keys tell us how they teamed up, as did real brothers Trombone Shorty and James Andrews. We’ll also hear from the Cajun married duo of Marc and Ann Savoy.

Join us this week as we visit with the King of the Chitlin Circuit, Bobby Rush. The singer, songwriter, manager, harmonica player, guitarist and bus driver talks about a life in the blues and breaks down his famous stage show. Mississippi-born, Louisiana-bred guitarist Sonny Landreth drops by for a live set and reveals his special technique with the slide.