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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'WHERE HAVE ALL THE FOLK SONGS GONE?': THE ALAN LOMAX LEGACY AND A CONVERSATION W/PETE SEEGER

July 16th, 2003

A year after his passing, American Routes remembers Alan Lomax, the great folklorist, musicologist and documentarian. While working mostly for the Library of Congress, Lomax made groundbreaking recordings with Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Jelly Roll Morton, Muddy Waters and countless others. Family and friends, contemporaries and musicians recall his many accomplishments. Lomax’s sometime collaborator Pete Seeger took a different route as a singer of folksongs. The great social activist, environmentalist, and banjoman, Pete Seeger speaks of his life in music and social justice—two things he’s brought together for over 60 years.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Before This Time Another Year Bessie Jones and Group
    Southern Journey Vol.12: Georgia Sea Islands, Rounder
  • Forest City Jump Forest City Joe
    Sounds of the South, Atlantic
  • Dancing Around the World Lomax Radio
  • Jimmy Peters and the Ring Dance Singers
  • Clifton Chenier
  • CLIP: Jelly Roll Morton INTERVIEW: at the piano in the Library of Congress
  • Mr. Jelly Lord Jelly Roll Morton
    Birth of the Hot, RCA
  • Instrumental: Midnight Special Jimmy Smith
    Midnight Special, Blue Note
  • Good Morning Blues Lead Belly
    Bourgeois Blues, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Midnight Special Harry Belafonte
    Greatest Hits, RCA
  • CLIP: Sister Rosetta Tharp PSA
  • CLIP: Woody Guthrie with Alan Lomax at the Library of Congress
  • Do Re Mi Woody Guthrie
    Dust Bowl Ballads, BMG
  • California Stars Wilco
    Mermaid Avenue, Elektra
  • Instrumental: End Credits Jeff Tweedy & Glenn Kotche
    Chelsea Walls soundtrack, Ryko
  • INTERVIEW: John Cohen

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  • Don't Let Your Deal Go Down New Lost City Ramblers
    Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom 1950-1970, Rhino
  • The Girl I Left Behind Spencer Moore
    Alan Lomax Collection Sampler, Rounder
  • INTERVIEW: Alan Lomax

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  • The Titanic Bessie Jones
    Southern Journey Vol.8: Velvet Voices, Rounder
  • CLIP: Lomax's world music recordings from Spain, Italy, England
  • Brown Girl in the Ring Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring
  • Go Down Old Hannah Ernest Williams and Group
    Land Where The Blues Began, Rounder
  • Dancing Around the World Lomax Radio

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: If I Had A Hammer Pete Seeger
    Greatest Hits, Columbia
  • If I Had A Hammer Toussaint McCall
    Nothing Takes the Place of You, Fuel 2000
  • Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Johnny Rivers
    Anthology 1964-1977, Rhino
  • Soldier, Soldier Natalie Merchant
    The House Carpenter's Daughter, Myth
  • I've Got a Secret (Didn't We Shake Sugaree) Fred Neil
    Everybody's Talkin', Capitol
  • Shake Sugaree Elizabeth Cotten
    Shake Sugaree, Vol.2, Folkways
  • Sugaree Jerry Garcia
    Garcia, Arista
  • Instrumental: Nashville Skyline Rag Bob Dylan
    Nashville Skyline, Columbia
  • I Ain't Got No Home Bob Dylan
    A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Warner
  • Don't Think Twice Johnny Cash
    The Folk Years: A Singers and Songwriters Collection, Time Life
  • Stagolee Mississippi John Hurt
    The Immortal, Vanguard
  • Here Am I, Oh Lord, Send Me Alvin Youngblood Heart
    Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the music of Mississippi John Hurt, Vanguard
  • Blowin' in the Wind Steve Wonder
    Greatest Hits, Vol.1, Motown
  • Instrumental: John Henry Tommy Jarrell
    The Legacy of Tommy Jarrell Vol.3, County
  • INTERVIEW: Pete Seeger

    Listen
  • Blowin' in the Wind Arlo Guthrie
    Live at Alan Lomax Tribute Concert, NYC, April 2003,
  • Midnight Special Pete Seeger and ensemble
    Live at Alan Lomax Tribute Concert, NYC, April 2003,
  • End Bed: Amazing Grace John Fahey
    America, Takoma

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

    Listen
  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

    Listen
  • June 8th, 2022

    SHADES OF THE BLUES

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