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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BANJOS LOST AND FOUND: DON VAPPIE & NICKEL CREEK

August 2nd, 2006

From the earliest blues and minstrel tunes to clawhammer bluegrass and forward to newgrass, the banjo has been a part of American music. This week we visit with New Orleans Creole jazzman Don Vappie and hear how the instrument is used in New Orleans traditional jazz. And feel the zeitgeist as San Diego-based Nickel Creek come by for a live set and talk about building onto their bluegrass base and moving beyond.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Creole Blues Don Vappie
    Creole Blues, Vappielle
  • Gut Bucket Blues Louis Armstrong
    The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings, Columbia
  • I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
    San Antonio Rose, Bear Family
  • Sister Kate Lionel Ferbos with Lars Edegran's New Orleans Band
    Lionel Ferbos with Lars Edegran's New Orleans Band, GHB
  • Shortenin' Bread Lee Dorsey
    Golden Classics, Collectables
  • Candy Man Hot Tuna
    First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, RCA
  • Instrumental: Tishomingo Blues Elmer Snowden Quartet featuring Cliff Jackson
    Harlem Banjo!, Riverside
  • Candy Man Taj Mahal
    Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home, Columbia
  • Don't You Make Me High Blue Lu Barker
    1938-1939, Classics
  • Salee Dame Baby Dodds Trio w/ Albert Nicholas
    Jazz a la Creole: Baby Dodds Trio, GHB
  • INTERVIEW: Don Vappie

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Up the Lazy River Papa Don's New Orleans Jazz Band
    Papa Don's New Orleans Jazz Band, Vappielle
  • Banjo Noir Alvin Batiste
    Late, Columbia
  • The Banjo, Opus 15 (Fantasie grotesque) Louis Moreau Gottschalk
    American Piano Music played by Amiram Rigai, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Sail Away Randy Newman
    The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1, Nonesuch

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Stumptown Nickel Creek
    American Routes original recording,
  • Bluetail Fly Abner Jay
    Blues Routes, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Blue Ridge Mountain Blues Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
    Martin, Bogan & Armstrong / That Old Gang of Mine, Flying Fish
  • Mississippi Kid Leroy Troy
    Folk Masters 1993 Concert,
  • Sitting on Top of the World The Grateful Dead
    The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros.
  • Instrumental: Cumberland Blues Pickin' on the Grateful Dead
    Pickin' on the Grateful Dead, CMH
  • California Boogie Howlin' Wolf
    Memphis Days: The Definitive Edition, Vol. 1, Bear Family
  • Lowside of the Road Tom Waits
    Mule Variations, Anti
  • Step it Up and Go Warner Williams with Jay Summerour
    Blues Highway, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
    The Essential Flatt & Scruggs: ‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered, Columbia/Legacy
  • McKinley's Blues Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robbins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns
    Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robbins, Vassar Clements, David Holland, Jethro Burns, HDS
  • Instrumental: This Ain't Grass Mike Auldridge
    Dobro: Blues and Bluegrass, Takoma
  • California Blues Merle Haggard
    Same Train, A Different Time, Capitol
  • California Stars Billy Bragg & Wilco
    Mermaid Avenue, Elektra
  • INTERVIEW: Nickel Creek

    Listen
  • End Bed: Hartford's Waltz Tony Ellis
    Farewell My Home, Flying Fish

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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