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For Black residents from the South, during the Great Migration North in the 1940's and 50's, gospel music defined the sacred side of life. In Chicago, churches served as places of community, musical joy, and healing. A tradition of quartet singing grew with groups like the Clefs of Cavalry, Holy Wonders, and the Highway Q.C.’s. These groups toured on gospel circuits nationwide, had record deals and radio shows. Group members often changed; Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Johnnie Taylor had all been in the Highway Q.C.’s before each turned to secular music. Spencer Taylor Jr. was a member of the Holy Wonders when the Q.C.’s came calling in the 1950s. I sat down with Mr. Taylor and his son, Spencer Taylor III, of the Highway Q.C.’s, to talk about his long life leading the ensemble.

This is American Routes, our program with words and music as a metaphor or extension of life in the circus, where not everyone is a man on the flying trapeze. We’re going to swing out with Dolly Jacobs, who was named a National Heritage Fellow in 2015. A Ringling Brothers aerialist, Dolly was born into a circus family. At fourteen, she learned what it would take to distinguish herself and the risks involved.

Eddie Cotton grew up in the Church of God in Christ in Clinton, Mississippi near Jackson. He heard guitar-playing deacons and preachers. His father was a preacher who bought Eddie his first guitar when he was six with plans for him to play for the congregation. After leading the church band, Eddie went on to study music theory at Jackson State University, where he realized that gospel and blues shared the same form, and developed a sound that incorporated blues, gospel, and soul. He continued playing music in church, but pursued a career in blues, opening for Ike Turner and B.B. King, while sticking with fellow musicians in Mississippi and his family.

This is American Routes live for Labor Day weekend with some favorite performances from our series of concerts created with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. To kick it off, we asked the Pine Leaf Boys to make a big journey across the Atchafalaya swamp from Lafayette and their South Louisiana Cajun prairie homeland down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to play on a live stream as the pandemic closed the dancehalls of French Louisiana. It’s “Pine Leaf Boy Two-Step” on American Routes.

Don Bryant was the fifth of ten children, grew up listening to his father’s gospel group, and started singing in church at age five. Don began harmonizing with his family and neighbors and went on to form the Four Kings with his brothers singing on Dick “Cane” Cole’s popular WLOK radio show. The group joined up with Willie Mitchell’s band; Don Bryant was lead singer. Bryant later pursued a solo career, but mostly focused on writing material for other artists at Hi Records and continued singing in church. Don returned to singing secular music in his 70s after an invitation from Memphis soul band the Bo-Keys. He released an album in 2017, called Don’t Give Up on Love, his first secular album in 48 years. Don’s latest record, You Make Me Feel, came out in 2020.

Los Cenzontles means “the mockingbirds” in the indigenous Nahuatl language. The band mixes traditional Mexican music with contemporary sounds including American rock and soul. They’ve collaborated with Linda Ronstadt, Taj Mahal, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, and Jackson Browne, but their main collaborators are children. Los Cenzontles is also a community-based arts academy that teaches music, dance, arts and crafts to its young students. We sat down with Los Cenzontles’ founder and guitarist Eugene Rodriguez and with singers Lucina Rodriguez, and Fabiola Trujillo.

This is American Routes, our program with words and music as a metaphor or extension of life in the circus, where not everyone is a man on the flying trapeze. We’re going to swing out with Dolly Jacobs, who was named a National Heritage Fellow in 2015. A Ringling Brothers aerialist, Dolly was born into a circus family. At fourteen, she learned what it would take to distinguish herself and the risks involved.

This week, we’re recalling the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr, where we’ll hear memories from those who knew him. Mabel John has been a Los Angeles community preacher for more than twenty years, but she earned fame as an R&B singer with both Motown and Stax Records. Her family of ten children grew up singing gospel music together and later the blues. Mabel's brother, Little Willie John, is famous for his song, “Fever.” When Mabel was an R&B singer, she met Martin Luther King.

In the absence of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, originally rescheduled for this month, we pay tribute to its founder, the late George Wein, by revisiting his creative work with the influential Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals. George Wein passed away on September 13, 2021. George Wein grew up during the Depression in a Jewish neighborhood near Boston. He heard religious cantorial music, pop songs, and eventually jazz. After World War II, Wein was playing gigs on piano before finding his niche as a club owner, concert organizer, and jazz impresario. He started the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, followed by the Folk Festival in 1959. George Wein sat with us at his home on New York’s Upper East Side to talk about his early experiences with music.

The New Orleans Saints finished their season with a 12-6 record, including their first playoff win in the cold, on the road. WWNO’s Jason Saul sat down…