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July 9 - July 15, 2008
Words & Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz-Shaped America & James Talley
Find the connections between the literary landscape and soundscape. We talk with Columbia University jazz scholar Robert O'Meally about the music writings of the Harlem Renaissance author best known for the novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison. And visit with songsmith and wordsmith James Talley. |
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July 16 - July 22, 2008
Banjos Lost and Found: Don Vappie & Nickel Creek
From the earliest blues and minstrel tunes to clawhammer bluegrass and forward to newgrass, the banjo has been a part of American music. This week we visit with New Orleans Creole jazzman Don Vappie and hear how the instrument is used in New Orleans traditional jazz. And feel the zeitgeist as San Diego-based Nickel Creek come by for a live set and talk about building onto their bluegrass base and moving beyond. |
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July 23 - July 29, 2008
Stars Fell on Alabama
AR takes a trip through the music of the Yellowhammer State--Alabama. Visit the Muscle Shoals Sound studio and find out what's in the water around "the Shoals" to make it a historic hotbed for R&B hits by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and more. Also, a trip through Hank Williams' childhood home in Georgiana, and the mysterious Coon Dog Cemetery. Plus music from Nat King Cole, Shelby Lynne, the Birmingham Sunlights and the Delmore Brothers. |
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July 30 - August 5, 2008
Big Voices with k.d. Lang & Topsy Chapman
From shouters to chanteuses, R&B melisma to the high lonesome sound of bluegrass, this week we bring you some of the biggest voices on the American soundscape. Neo-retro vocalist k.d. lang comes by to talk about her loves and influences from 50's country to smoky lounge music. New Orleans singer Topsy Chapman tells us how a stint as a singing waitress on Bourbon Street and growing up with 15 siblings led her to an international career as a song stylist. |
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August 6 - August 12, 2008
Roadside Attractions
It's summertime and the living's easy. Jump in as we hit the road in search of new faces and places. Head north out of New Orleans, across Lake Ponchatrain, to the Abita Mystery House at UCM Museum in Abita Springs. And much further north, to the Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, Maine. Plus, a refreshing visit to a local New Orleans favorite, Hansen's Sno-Bliz , servin' up the best sno-cones you've ever tasted. |
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August 13 - August 19, 2008
John Prine
Join us for a two-hour visit with John Prine as he walks us through his life--from urban Illinois backwards to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky--and catalog. 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 has written 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. |
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August 20 - August 26, 2008
After the Storm X: Dog Days of August
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. |
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August 27 - September 2, 2008
Labor Day
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.
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