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American Routes
American Routes is a weekly two-hour public radio program produced in New Orleans, presenting a broad range of American music — blues and jazz, gospel and soul, old-time country and rockabilly, Cajun and zydeco, Tejano and Latin, roots rock and pop, avant-garde and classical. Now in our 15th year on the air, American Routes explores the shared musical and cultural threads in these American styles and genres of music — and how they are distinguished.
It’s Fourth of July, and we dig into the archives for the roots of American Routes. It all began with a series of Independence Day concerts held annually at the Washington Monument before the fireworks show on the National Mall and featured the best of American vernacular musical culture. We’ll sample from nearly a decades worth of concerts, highlighting spectacular stage performances by the Staple Singers, Tito Puente, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, New Orleans Tuxedo Brass and more. It’s Musical Stars & Cultural Stripes: American Roots Independence Day Revisited.
