AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté June 7th, 2023 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland and Balla Kouyaté

It’s Blueswomen, Jazzmen, African roots and branches. Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland‘s father, the late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, brought her into his music as a child. As an adult, she found new ways to use blues to express her perspective. We’ll hear from some of Shemekia’s heroes including Etta James, Ruth Brown, Alberta Hunter and Big Mama Thornton. Then a conversation and performance by Boston-based Mandinka balafon player Balla Kouyaté and music inspired by and from the continent of Africa from Randy Weston, Miriam Makeba and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Shemekia Copeland photo by Mike White

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BLUES OLD AND NEW: THE BLACK KEYS, ROBERT FINLEY & LUKE WINSLOW-KING

November 20th, 2019

We trace the musical DNA and psychic aura of the blues from its Delta roots to Chicago’s electric pioneers, across a patchwork of regional styles and modern day innovators. In an archival interview we talk with blues rockers the Black Keys of Akron, Ohio, about defying genre, eschewing nostalgia, and the blues progenitors who blurred labels like primitive and avant-garde. Age Don’t Mean a Thing for 66-year-old Louisiana bluesman Robert Finley, who caught a big break in the last couple years and is now rocking the mic and hitting the road harder than ever. From Cadillac, Michigan to the Crescent City, Luke Winslow-King recalls the bad times and breakups that gave him a deeper understanding of the blues and inspired him to make I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always. Plus, we load up the jukebox with our favorites from Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy, Johnny Burnette and Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Meet Me in the City Junior Kimbrough
    You Better Run--The Essential Junior Kimbrough, Fat Possum
  • Blues Won't Give Me No Rest Henry Gray
    American Routes Recording at Baton Rouge Blues Festival 2016,
  • Smoke Stack Lightnin' Howlin' Wolf
    Smoke Stack Lightning/You Can't Be Beat, Chess
  • The Train Kept A-Rollin' Johnny Burnette
    The Train Kept A-Rollin'/Honey Hush, Coral
  • Rock Around With Ollie Vee Buddy Holly
    That'll Be the Day/Rock Around with Ollie Vee, Decca
  • Instrumental: Ten Cent Pistol The Black Keys
    Brothers, Nonesuch
  • SEGMENT: The Black Keys

    Listen
  • In the Pines Robert Finley and Dan Auerbach
    The Murder Ballads, Easy Eye Sound
  • Pine Grove Blues Pine Leaf Boys
    Allons Boire un Coup: Cajun & Creole Drinking Songs, Valcour
  • Instrumental: Cotton Fields Bill Marx
    Jazz Kaleidoscope, Stardust
  • I Never Picked Cotton Johnny Cash
    Unchained--American II, American Recordings
  • Cotton Crop Blues James Cotton
    The Complete Sun Singles, Vol. 1- From the Vaults, Bear Family
  • SEGMENT: Robert Finley

    Listen
  • Rollin' Stone Muddy Waters
    Rollin' Stone/Walkin' Blues, Chess
  • Poor Black Mattie Samantha Fish
    Belle of the West, Ruf Records
  • End Bed: Most Things Haven't Worked Out Junior Kimbrough
    You Better Run--The Essential Junior Kimbrough, Fat Possum

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Interlude II Luke Winslow-King
    Everlasting Arms, Bloodshot Records
  • I'm Glad Trouble Don't Last Always Luke Winslow-King Trouble Don't Last Always
    Bloodshot Records,
  • First Time I Met the Blues Buddy Guy
    I Got My Eyes on You/First Time I Met the Blues, Chess
  • Trouble Blues Sam Cooke
    Night Beat, RCA
  • Night Life Willie Nelson
    Night Life/Rainy Day Blues, RCA
  • Crazy Arms Ray Price
    Crazy Arms/You Done Me Wrong, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams Preservation Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan
    Preservation Hall Hot 4 with Duke Dejan, Preservation Hall Recordings
  • Nothing But Trouble Lonnie Johnson
    Sings 24 Twelve Bar Blues, Highland
  • It's Right Here for Ya Blue Lu Barker with George Finola Band
    New Orleans Jazz Man and Raconteur, GHB Records
  • I'm Your Levee Man Luke Winslow-King
    Everlasting Arms, Bloodshot Records
  • SEGMENT: Luke Winslow-King

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Endless Summer Slack Key Jeff Peterson
    Slack Key Guitar: The Artistry of Jeff Peterson, Palm Records
  • Peaceful, Easy Feeling Eagles
    Eagles, Asylum
  • When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again Hank Thompson
    When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again/Who Left the Door to Heaven Open, Dot Records
  • Bluebird Bonnie Raitt
    Bonnie Raitt, Warner Brothers
  • That Lucky Old Sun Jerry Lee Lewis
    Classic Jerry Lee Lewis, Bear Family
  • Blue Skies Cassandra Wilson
    Blue Skies, JMT
  • End Bed: Sunny Side of the Street James Booker
    Junco Partner, Island

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 7th, 2023

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND AND BALLA KOUYATé

    Listen
  • May 31st, 2023

    PIANO PEOPLE AND MORE: JASON MORAN & HEATH ALLEN

    Listen
  • May 24th, 2023

    MEMORIAL DAY WITH THE 2022 NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWS

    Listen
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