A visit with legendary bandsmen including late roots rocker Robbie Robertson and California jazz bandleader Johnny Otis. Robertson was a prime mover behind The Band, who, along with the Grateful Dead and others, defined the image and sound of American rock with folk roots in the 1960s and ’70s. Johnny Otis shaped the West Coast jump boogie sound, working with artists such as Jackie Wilson, Big Mama Thornton, and Etta James. Also a trip back in time to the Dew Drop Inn, a halcyon New Orleans nightclub which also served as a hotel, eatery, barber shop and post office. We’ll hear about one of the Dew Drop’s most infamous characters, female impersonator and R & B singer Patsy Vidalia.

American Routes celebrates Thanksgiving weekend with a sonic cornucopia from National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellows — recipients of America’s most prestigious folk & traditional arts award. We’ll hear music and conversation from past Fellows: bluegrass picker Del McCoury, rockabilly Wanda Jackson, sacred steel guitarists, The Campbell Brothers, and late blues singer Koko Taylor. The 2016 Fellows, many performing live in Washington, include Mardi Gras Indian Chief Monk Boudreaux, Irish accordionist Billy McComiskey, and Mexican-American singer Artemio Posadas. Other awardees range from basketmakers in Kentucky and the Penobscot tribe in Maine to traditional wind instrumentalists from South Dakota and Laos.

Tune in and pay witness to over 150 years of guitar experience between this week’s nonagenarian guests. Les Paul, the Wizard of Waukesha, talks about his leap from taking up the instrument to inventing the guitar heard ‘round the world that bears his name. And Delta guitarist and walking blues encyclopedia Honeyboy Edwards comes by our studio and remembers Robert Johnson, the 1927 flood, and recording for Alan Lomax along the way.

This week on American Routes, we’re here to Make American Routes Great Again! Stronger Together… in Songs & Stories. With just a few days left before relief or disbelief in our diverse democracy… we bring you ghosts of elections past and present… And the words of lofty American songmakers Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, Los Lobos and Bruce Springsteen. We’ll give a smidgeon of equal time to politicians from both parties whose sounds take to the podium and the stage: Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander on piano and Tim Kaine from Virginia on harmonica.