AMERICAN ROUTES
San Antonio Sounds San Antonio Sounds September 20th, 2023 (Hour 1)
San Antonio Sounds

The great Texas river city is a mix of Mexican, German, Anglo and African American cultures, among others. Home to the Texas Conjunto Festival and the International Accordion Festival, San Antonio is best known for Tex-Mex or Tejano music played by squeeze box masters like Flaco Jimenez, Narciso Martinez and Mingo Saldivar among many. We’ll speak with Flaco, who in collaborations with Doug Sahm, Ry Cooder, and Los Super Seven, has carried the music worldwide. “Chicano brown-eyed soul” performers like Sunny and the Sunliners and other groups describe music that connected New Orleans and Louisiana Swamp Pop with San Antonio and East Los Angeles. We’ll also talk with Vox organ legend Augie Meyers who worked in the high hippie era with Doug Sahm as part of the Sir Douglas Quintet and later in the Texas Tornadoes. The conversation comes full circle with Max Baca, the leader and bajo sexto player of Los Texmaniacs who was influenced by both Flaco and Doug Sahm. The Grammy-winning family band sticks with tradition, but finds ways to include country, blues and rock. Plus music from Sam the Sham, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Freddy Fender and Willie Nelson. ¡Vamos!

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TRUE BELIEVERS AND HARDWORKING TROUBADOURS: POST-PUNK FOLKSINGER, LEE BAINS, & SWAMP POP HERO, TOMMY MCLAIN

August 31st, 2022

For Labor Day weekend, it’s true believers and hardworking troubadours. First, Lee Bains, Birmingham, Alabama’s post-punk folksinger whose songs seek social justice, inclusive humanity and protection of the environs as a sacred quest. Then, octogenarian Louisiana Swamp Pop hero Tommy McLain, who brought his classic ’60s songs and music mix of country, blues, rock and gospel to clubs and casinos, now recording with Elvis Costello and touring with Nick Lowe. Plus music from Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, Little Richard, and Marcia Ball.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Roebuck Parkway Lee Bains and the Glory Fires
    There is a Bomb in Gilead, Alive NaturalSound Records
  • Hard Travelin' Woody Guthrie
    Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Outlaw Blues Bob Dylan
    Bringing It All Back Home, Columbia
  • Midnight Rider Allman Brothers
    Idlewild South, Capricorn
  • Ramblin' Johnny Shines
    Johnny Shines and Robert Lockwood, Paula
  • Ramblin Man Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys
    Just a Country Singer, Country Master
  • Instrumental: Ramblin' Charles Lloyd & the Marvels
    Tone Poem, Blue Note
  • Freight Train The Dexateens
    Hardwire Healing, Cornelius Chapel Records
  • 72 (This Highway's Mean) Drive-By Truckers
    Southern Rock Opera, Lost Highway Records
  • SEGMENT: Lee Bains

    Listen
  • Instrumental: The Memphis Mail Scott Dunbar
    Voices of Mississippi—Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris, Dust-to-Digital
  • Mississippi Goddam Kelsey Waldon, Adia Victoria, Kyshona Armstrong
    Mississippi Goddam single, Oh Boy
  • I Wish Knew How it Would Feel to be Free Nina Simone
    Silk & Soul, Sony Entertainment
  • Night Train James Brown
    James Brown—Star Time, UMG
  • Blue Train Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two
    Johnny Cash: The Man, the World, His Music, Sun Records
  • Hear My Train A Comin' Jimi Hendrix
    People, Hell and Angels, Experience Hendrix
  • End Bed: Blue Train John Coltrane
    Blue Train, Capitol

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Just Because Tommy McLain
    Tommy McLain: The Essential Collection, Jin
  • Greenwood Mississippi Little Richard
    Little Richard—The Rill Thing, Reprise
  • Green River Eilen Jewell
    Green River Single, Signature Sounds
  • Suzie Q Dale Hawkins
    Presenting Dale Hawkins, Chess
  • Livin' On the Losin End Tommy McLain
    I Ran Down Every Dream, Yep Roc
  • Sweet Suzannah Clint West
    Clint West—Swamp Pop Legend, The Essential Collection, Jin
  • Leavin' Louisiana in the Broad Daylight Marcia Ball
    Outlaws & Armadillos—Country's Roaring Seventies, Sony
  • Instrumental: Switchit Danny James
    Danny James—Boogie in the Mud, Goldband
  • Jukebox Songs Tommy McLain
    Swamp Pop Music, Vol. 2, Demon S&C
  • Try to Find Another Man Tommy McLain, Clint West & the Boogie Kings
    Tommy McLain: The Essential Collection, Jin
  • Here Comes that Feeling Nick Lowe
    Here Comes that Feeling single, Yep Roc
  • SEGMENT: Tommy McLain

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Appelousa Danny James
    Danny James—Boogie in the Mud, Goldband
  • Bama Lama Bama Loo Little Richard
    The Very Best of Little Richard, Specialty
  • Sticks and Stones Tommy McLain
    Tommy McLain: The Essential Collection, Jin
  • Dream a Little Dream of Me Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
    Love, Ella, Verve
  • Before I Grow too Old Fats Domino
    Fats Domino—The Complete Imperial Singles, Capitol
  • End Bed: When I Grow too Old to Dream Jimmy Smith
    Jimmy Smith—Back at the Chicken Shack, Blue Note

THE LATEST STREAMS

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    SAN ANTONIO SOUNDS

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    NEW ORLEANS JAZZ CLARINET, MANDE SONGS & LOUISIANA ZYDECO LIVE

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  • September 6th, 2023

    FROM GOSPEL TO GIGGING: GLADYS KNIGHT AND IRIS DEMENT

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