AMERICAN ROUTES
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & Balla Kouyaté Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & Balla Kouyaté May 18th, 2022 (Hour 1)
Blues and Jazz, African Roots and Branches with Shemekia Copeland & 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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DOLLY PARTON

December 9th, 2020

Dolly Parton joins us, in this archival interview from 2000, to talk about her musical and family roots in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, where she first broke into song, performed on the radio, and admired the fashion of the local trollop. There’s music from across the American spectrum, including Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.” Also, we’ll talk with the late historian Charles Wolfe about the ballads and songs of the Appalachian South.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Tennessee Rag Chet Atkins and Doc Watson
    The Essential Chet Atkins, RCA
  • Hello, Dolly! Frank Sinatra with Count Basie & Quincy Jones
    It Might as Well be Swing , Capitol
  • She's Dynamite Piano Red
    The Doctor’s In, Bear Family
  • Tennessee Waltz King Curtis
    Blow, Man, Blow , Bear Family
  • Tennessee Waltz Les Paul & Mary Ford
    All-Time Greatest Hits , Capitol
  • My Tennessee Mountain Home Dolly Parton
    The RCA Years , RCA
  • Instrumental: Tennessee Waltz Pee Wee King
    Classic Country Music: Volume II , Smithsonian
  • Segment: Dolly Parton, Part 1

    Listen
  • Coat of Many Colors Dolly Parton
    The RCA Years , RCA
  • Dark End of the Street James Carr
    The Essential , Razor & Tie
  • Blues Back Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner
    A Jazz Message, Impulse!
  • Instrumental: One Dime Blues Etta Baker
    Hills of Home , Rounder
  • Yodelling Fiddling Blues Mississippi Sheiks
    From Where I Stand , Warner
  • Water Tank Furry Lewis
    Blues Magician , Rounder
  • Big Boy Now Super Chikan
    What You See , Fat Possum
  • Chicken Grease D'Angelo
    Voodoo , Virgin
  • Froglegs Lloyd Price
    Creole Kings of New Orleans , Specialty
  • Joy Spring Clifford Brown
    The Best of Clifford Brown , Blue Note
  • Closing Bed: Guitar Boogie Shuffle The Virtues
    Guitar Boogie Shuffle , Bacci Bros Records

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Old Jellico Bela Fleck
    The Bluegrass Sessions , Warner
  • New Muleskinner Blues Bill Monroe
    1950-58 , Bear Family
  • Better Move It On Home Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner
    The Essential , RCA
  • Side By Side Ray Charles and Betty Carter
    Ray Charles and Betty Carter , Castle
  • You've Got the Power James Brown & Vicki Anderson
    Duets , Polydor
  • You Win Again Fats Domino
    From Where I Stand , Bear Family
  • Crazy Arms Jerry Lee
    Classic Jerry Lee Lewis , Bear Family
  • Instrumental: Pumpin' Piano Rock Jerry Lee Lewis
    Classic , Bear Family
  • Segment: Dolly Parton, Part 2

    Listen
  • Knoxville Girl Louvin Brothers
    When I Stop Dreaming , Razor & Tie
  • Instrumental: A Tribute to Peador O'Donnell Jerry Douglas
    Restless on the Farm, Sugar Hill
  • Segment: Old Ballads with Charles Wolfe

    Listen
  • Barbara Allen Maxine Sullivan with John Kirby sextet
    John Kirby Sextet , Sony
  • I Can't Get No Satisfaction Cat Power
    The Covers Record , Matador
  • House of the Rising Sun Doc Watson
    Third Generation Blues , Sugar Hill
  • Lighten Up Sonny Jones
    Funky, Funky New Orleans , Funky Delicacies
  • Happy Feet Blues Wynton Marsalis Septet
    Live at the Village Vanguard , Columbia
  • Closing bed: 42nd Street Chris Barber's Jazz and Blues Band
    He's Got the Whole World in His Hands , Timeless

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • May 18th, 2022

    BLUES AND JAZZ, AFRICAN ROOTS AND BRANCHES WITH SHEMEKIA COPELAND & BALLA KOUYATé

    Listen
  • May 11th, 2022

    BREAKING OUT: BRITISH BLUES TO NEW ORLEANS BOUNCE

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  • May 4th, 2022

    KINGPINS OF THE GULF COAST: RODNEY CROWELL & DR. JOHN

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