American Routes

09/09/2026

Who was Harry Smith? The short answer about the 20th century polymath and hustler might be divined in his legendary 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, an LP collection of mostly Southern US folk songs from 78rpm records. “The Anthology” established a cult of listening and influenced popular and folk revival artists from John Sebastian and the New Lost City Ramblers to rockers like Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Beck. We’ll talk with Smith biographer John Szwed about Harry’s life as an artist, record collector and 1950’s bohemian. Then, old and new covers of the Anthology and its B-sides from Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Gatemouth Brown and Amythyst Kiah: https://buff.ly/L2dWIfh

Photo of Harry Smith by Brian Graham. From his collection “Absurdly Is King.”

09/04/2026

This week on American Routes Shortcuts: We're live for Labor Day weekend with some favorite performances from our series of concerts created with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. To kick it off, we asked the Pine Leaf Boys to make a big journey across the Atchafalaya swamp from Lafayette and their South Louisiana Cajun prairie homeland down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to play on a live stream as the pandemic closed the dancehalls of French Louisiana. It’s “Pine Leaf Boy Two-Step” on American Routes.

This is American Routes live for Labor Day weekend with some favorite performances from our series of concerts created with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. To kick it off, we asked the Pine Leaf Boys to make a big journey across the Atchafalaya swamp from Lafayette and their South Lou...

09/03/2026

Singer Cassandra Wilson passed away at age 70. Born in Jackson, MS, she started singing and writing songs at age nine and long leaped and blurred musical boundaries with her deep, full voice, attuned to a variety of styles that she made her own.

You can find our programs with her here: https://bit.ly/4qVFEsQ and here: https://bit.ly/4gT5mtt

With a low and smoky voice, she conjured the blues tradition of her native Mississippi in both her own songs and in covers.

09/02/2026

This Labor Day weekend, it’s the best of American Routes Live–studio concerts and conversation in collaboration with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park–including the Pine Leaf Boys with Cajun tunes and dances, Haitian-American singer songwriter Leyla McCalla and her band, Creole banjoist and songman Don Vappie, New Orleans’s king of the trumpet, Kermit Ruffins, jazz saxophone modernist Donald Harrison Jr. and an acoustic set by Rickie Lee Jones: https://buff.ly/pM1km2C

08/28/2026

This week on American Routes Shortcuts: This week we dig into the archive for one of our all-time favorite interviews with the late Dolly Parton in 2000. Dolly passed away on August 25, 2026. The legend of Dolly Parton comes from a combination of her music, which has earned her several Grammys and a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and her personal style: big hair, makeup, high heels, voluptuous figure. That music and that style developed in a place that’s still precious to her: her childhood home.

This is American Routes digging into the archive for one of my all-time favorite interviews with the late Dolly Parton in 2000. Dolly passed away on August 25, 2026.

08/26/2026

We remember the late Dolly Parton, who joined us in this archival interview from 2000, to talk about her musical and family roots in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, where she first broke into song, performed on the radio, and admired the fashion of the local trollop. There's music from across the American spectrum, including Parton's "Coat of Many Colors." Also, we'll talk with the late historian Charles Wolfe about the ballads and songs of the Appalachian South: https://buff.ly/i8OVFBN

08/25/2026

Remembering Dolly Parton, who passed away today at 80 years old. Dolly was a touchstone for so many fans and fellow artists, and she stood up for social inclusiveness and diversity in times of discontent, all while staying true to her roots.

You can listen to our interview with Dolly Parton here: https://bit.ly/4gQPubU

Known for her outsize persona, appearance and talent, she rose from rural poverty to become a top-selling singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.

08/21/2026

This week on American Routes Shortcuts: We bask in the summer heat and listen to our favorite versions of the George Gershwin classic, “Summertime,” from the 1934 opera Porgy and Bess.

This week on American Routes Shortcuts, we bask in the summer heat and listen to our favorite versions of the George Gershwin classic, “Summertime,” from the 1934 opera Porgy and Bess.

08/19/2026

This summer season, American Routes is riding the airwaves to exotic destinations, swinging and surfing to all manner of beachside rhythms from the Beach Boys, T***s and the Maytals, Wilco, and the Kinks. We also stay home to bask in the sultry heat of “Summertime,” composed by George Gershwin and novelist Dubose Heyward in 1934 for the opera Porgy and Bess. It’s one of the most covered tunes in the American songbook with over thirty thousand renditions. We’ll hear takes from Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sam Cooke, and the Zombies: https://buff.ly/eDFjNLf

08/12/2026

It's back to the Golden Age of doo-wop and classic songs of the era from Black and white groups. In conversation with DION DiMucci, the Bronx born and raised singer who made his name first with his neighborhood group the Belmonts, we talk about his Italian American roots and his love of the blues. Then, we explore the roads to doo-wop from gospel quartets, R&B and jazz, including songs by Sam Cooke, The Mills Brothers and Jimmy Reed: https://buff.ly/WiQHR5N