AMERICAN ROUTES
Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush June 22nd, 2022 (Hour 1)
Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush

Earl Scruggs‘ legendary banjo playing, aptly named “Scruggs Style,” has left its mark on American pop culture and inspired generations of banjo players. In the late 1960s, Scruggs, along with his sons, bravely crossed musical boundaries, but his musical journey really started back at the beginnings of bluegrass, playing with Bill Monroe and later, Lester Flatt. In this American Routes encore, we talk to Earl and his sons, Randy and Gary, about performing on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and why he doesn’t need to crack jokes about the banjo. New Hampshire-born folk singer songwriter Tom Rush may have gone to Harvard and studied with a ballad scholar, but he still knows how to sing the blues. We’ll visit with Rush to learn more about Boston’s folk scene in the 1960s, his time as a radio DJ and his inspired approach to songwriting.

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AFTER THE STORM VI: CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS

December 21st, 2005

Sleigh Bells will be ringing in New Orleans, and there will be plenty of great seasonal music as well. Plus, jazz writer and musicologist John Szwed talks about the Jelly Roll Morton Library of Congress recordings.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Silent Night, Holy Night Allen Toussaint
    A New Orleans Christmas, NYNO
  • No Room at the Inn Vera Hall
    Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
  • Last Month of the Year The Blind Boys of Alabama
    Go Tell It on the Mountain, Real World
  • Santa's Second Line New Birth Brass Band
    New Orleans Christmas, NYNO
  • O Day Georgia South Sea Island Singers
    Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
  • Tryin' to Get Home Blind Gary Davis
    Harlem Street Singer, Prestige/Bluesville
  • Instrumental: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear Michael Doucet
    Christmas Bayou, Swallow
  • J'ai vu le Loup, le Renard et la Belette The Balfa Brothers
    Louisiana Spice: 25 Years of Louisiana Music on Rounder Records, Rounder
  • Winterlude Joe Ely
    To: KATE, A Benefit for Kate's Sake, Western Beat
  • I Don't Just Want You for Christmas Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas
    Must Be Santa, Rounder
  • Christmas is a Joyful Day Lord Executor
    Where Will You Be Christmas Day, Dust-to-Digital
  • Christmas Feeling Ska Toots and the Maytals
    Christmas Greetings from Studio One, Heartbeat
  • Instrumental: Silver Bells Papa Don Vappie's New Orleans Jazz Band
    A Christmas Present, Vappielle
  • INTERVIEW: John Szwed on Jelly Roll Morton

    Listen
  • There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays Leon Redbone
    Christmas Island, Blue Thumb
  • I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm Billie Holiday
    Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas, Verve
  • Merry Christmas Baby Johnny Moore's Three Blazers
    Billboard Greatest R&B Christmas Hits, Rhino
  • End Bed: Winter Wonderland Allen Toussaint
    A New Orleans Christmas, NYNO

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: The First Noel John Fahey
    The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album, Takoma
  • Christmas is A-Coming Leadbelly
    What are You Doing Christmas Day, Dust-to-Digital
  • Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers
    What are You Doing Christmas Day, Dust-to-Digital
  • Sherburne (While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks) Sacred Harp Singers
    Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
  • Cherry Tree Carol Pentangle
    Solomon's Seal, Reprise
  • Greensleeves John Coltrane
    The Best of: His Greatest Years, Vol. 2, Impulse
  • Instrumental: Greensleeves Jimmy Smith
    Christmas Cookin’, Verve
  • The Wind Cries Mary Jimi Hendrix Experience
    Are You Experienced, MCA
  • Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas? The Staple Singers
    MOJO Blue Christmas, MOJO
  • Three Angels Bob Dylan
    New Morning, Columbia
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem Sister Rosetta Tharpe
    Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas, Verve
  • I'll Be Home for Christmas The Pilgrim Travelers
    Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics, Rhino
  • I'll Be Home for Christmas Diana Krall
    Christmas Songs, Verve
  • Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby Amos Milburn
    Billboard Greatest R&B Christmas Hits, Rhino
  • Instrumental: We Free Kings Roland Kirk
    Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas, Verve
  • We Three Kings of Orient Are John Fahey
    The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album, Takoma
  • It Came Upon a Midnight Clear The Louvin Brothers
    Hillbilly Holiday, Rhino
  • River Joni Mitchell
    Blue, Reprise
  • Pretty Paper Willie Nelson
    Pretty Paper, Columbia
  • White Christmas Otis Redding
    The Original Soul Christmas, Rhino
  • End Beds: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) Duke Ellington
    Three Suites, Columbia

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

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  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

    Listen
  • June 8th, 2022

    SHADES OF THE BLUES

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