AMERICAN ROUTES
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now June 29th, 2022 (Hour 1)
May the Fourth Be With Us! American Routes Independence Day Then & Now

This July 4th weekend, we dive into the record crates to bring you music of celebration, hope and critique from Nina Simone, Randy Newman, Sly Stone and Jon Batiste. Then, the July 4th roots of American Routes as we go back to the 1990s, deep in the archive, for highlights from The American Roots Independence Day concerts at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Join us for spectacular stage performances by the urbane blues hero Charles Brown, the Texas Playboys with Johnny Gimble playing Western swing, Mexican-American Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Young Tuxedo Brass with New Orleans jazz, and Hawaiian music and song of slack-key guitar master Ledward Kaapana.

  • Info
  • ABOUT
  • BEST OF
  • UPCOMING
  • ARCHIVE
  • SUPPORT
  • JOURNAL
  • STATIONS
  • MEDIA KIT
  • INDEX
  • STAFF
  • CONTACT
BROWSE BY DATE
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
  • 2012
  • 2011
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
  • 2002
  • 2001
  • 2000
  • 1999
  • 1998

SUPPORT GREAT STORYTELLING

We rely on your support to remain on air and online. Your contribution helps us bring you interviews with great American artists and the carefully curated music mix that you’ve enjoyed over the years.

Donate

 

AMERICAN ROUTES ON INSTAGRAM

LABOR DAY WITH ARCHIE GREEN

September 1st, 1999

Workers of the world unite as we celebrate with thoughts from hardworking shoeshiners young and old; and visit with San Francisco folklorist Archie Green who expains why recordings like Merle Haggard’s “Workingman’s Blues” have eclipsed the old labor song tradition. In addition to music for your weekend picnic and parties, hear one of host Nick Spitzer’s favorite segue sets: Paul Robeson, Randy Newman, and Ray Charles—where Joe Hill finds himself “Busted.”

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: Heigh-Ho From Snow White
    The Music of Disney - A Legacy in Song, Walt Disney Records
  • Get a Job The Silhouettes
    A Child's Celebration of Rock & Roll, Music for Little People
  • Don't Try to Keep up With the Joneses Dizzy Gillespie
    Jambo Caribe, Verve
  • Big Boss Man Jimmy Reed
    Jimmy Reed - 18 Greatest Hits, Motown
  • Funky Boss Beastie Boys
    Check Your Head, Capitol
  • Detroit City Bobby Bare
    The Essential Bobby Bare, RCA
  • It's A Living The Delevantes
    Long About That Time, Rounder
  • Instrumental: A Hard Day's Night Bar-Kays
    The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968, Stax/Atlantic
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy Red Foley
    Only Country 1950-1954, JCI
  • Work, Work, Work Lee Dorsey
    Wheelin' and Dealin', Arista
  • When Will We Be Paid Staples Singers
    The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles 1968-1971, Stax
  • Instrumental: Red Wing Joe Stephenson
    Moonlight on the Colorado, Adobe
  • INTERVIEW: Archie Green

    Listen
  • Cable Car Operator Dale Mead
    Work's Many Voices - Vol.2, Arhoolie
  • Dark As A Dungeon Merle Travis
    Folk Songs of the Hills, Capitol
  • Solidarity Forever Pete Seeger & the Almanac Singers
    Talking Union, Folkways
  • Workin' Man Blues Merle Haggard
    Greatest Hits Volume 1, Curb
  • Cumberland Blues Grateful Dead
    Workingman's Dead, Warner Brothers
  • Work Song Nina Simone
    Nina Simone Anthology - The Colpix Years, Rhino
  • Give Me Back My Job Carl Perkins
    The Oxford American Southern sampler,
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Hard Working Man Blues Jay McShann & his Jazz Men
    Kansas City Blues 1944-1949, Capitol

HOUR two

  • Sing As We Go medley Percival Mackey & his Band
    Music While You Work, Empress
  • Joe Hill Paul Robeson
    Don't Mourn - Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Mr. President Have Pity on the Working Man Randy Newman
    Good Old Boys, Reprise
  • Busted Ray Charles
    Ingredients in a Recipe For Soul/Have A Smile With Me, Rhino
  • Beautician Blues Roy Brown
    Blues Deluxe, Charley
  • Business Woman Camille Howard
    Works Many Voices Vol. 1, Arhoolie
  • Instrumental: Shoe Shiner's Drag Jelly Roll Morton
    Chicago: The Red Hot Peppers, Smithsonian Collection
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Shoe-Shine Boy Count Basie
    Count Basie and the Kansas City 7, Impulse
  • Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie Ford
    Only Country 1955-1959, JCI
  • Hey Boss Man Jay Stutes
    Works Many Voices Vol. 1, Arhoolie
  • Mr. Charlie Pt. 2 Lightnin' Hopkins
    Lightnin' Hopkins: Morning Blues - Charly Blues Masterworks Vol. 8, Charly
  • Maggie's Farm Bob Dylan
    Bringing it All Back Home, Columbia
  • Instrumental: Ouachita Run Alvin Youngblood Hart
    Territory, Hannibal
  • Pastures of Plenty Woody Guthrie
    This Land is Your Land - The Asch Recordings Vol. 1, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Mojado Sin Licencia Flaco Jimenez
    Mojado Sin Licencia, Arhoolie
  • SEGMENT: Shoeshiner
  • Lazy Bones Leon Redbone
    No Regrets, Sugar Hill
  • Nice Work if You Can Get It Billie Holiday
    The Billie Holiday Story Vol. 3, Columbia
  • Early to Bed Morphine
    Like Swimming, Dreamworks/Ryko
  • End Bed: Work Song Duke Ellington
    Black, Brown & Beige, Music Masters

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 29th, 2022

    MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US! AMERICAN ROUTES INDEPENDENCE DAY THEN & NOW

    Listen
  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

    Listen
  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

    Listen
A|R

  • Donate
A|R AMERICAN ROUTES
  • ABOUT
  • BEST OF
  • ARCHIVE
  • UPCOMING
  • SUPPORT US
  • JOURNAL
  • STATIONS
  • STAFF
  • CONTACT
  • Tulane University
  • NEA
  • PRX