What’s in a name? Listen in and you’ll find out why Emmett Ellis Jr. became the bluesman Bobby Rush; how folks get names like Topsy (Chapman), and Sherman & Wendell (Holmes); and how country singer George Jones became known as “the possum.” Also, we talk to Yale anthropologist David Watts about names of non-human primates.

This week on American Routes we cue the music and dim the lights for great music moments in film. We’ll sit down with Oscar nominees Joel and Ethan Coen, writers/directors of such iconic films as True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou? and The Big Lebowski and discover the magical role of music in their movies. Then, conversation with cinema-verite masters D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, who’ll detail the craft of their “glorified home movies” such as Dylan’s Dont Look Back and The War Room, and their latest feature Kings of Pastry. Plus, clips from films we love, and songs that make the silver screen shimmer.

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, playing with Bill Monroe and later, Lester Flatt. 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.