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These recipes are chock-full of fresh herbs, vegetables and vibrant colors, and keep kitchen time to a minimum during the dog days of summer.

The Canadian province, once staunchly Catholic, has become proudly secular, and its king cakes have morphed into more of a fun family tradition — while also taking on a tasty French flair.

Many of New Orleans charter schools are focused on preparation for college, especially for low-income students of color who would be the first in their…

The New Jersey Sandy recovery service center had so few chairs that some customers had to wait while standing in long lines. The firm used software taken…

Who was Harry Smith? The short answer about the 20th century polymath and hustler might be divined in his legendary Anthology of American Folk Music from 1952, an LP collection of mostly Southern US folk music on 78rpm records. The Anthology established a cult of listening and influenced popular and folk revival artists from John Sebastian and the New Lost City Ramblers to rockers like Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Beck. In addition to music recording and wide ranging research into tribal and other cultures, Harry Smith was a painter on canvas and on film. He was a profound thinker and worker in the American vernacular.

This is American Routes, I'm Nick Spitzer. I was invited to the 2013 Americana Music Festival in Nashville where on stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, I had a chance to interview the recipient of that year’s Lifetime Achievement Award: New Orleans’ Dr. John. It was a busy year for Dr. John. He won a Grammy for the Best Blues Album for Locked Down, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, and he received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts here at Tulane University, making the Nite Tripper Doctor Dr. John in our minds.

I first visited with Norah Jones almost 20 years ago– you can see her hanging out at our old studios on the American Routes website. She was touring then with her first record, “Come Away With Me.” That went on to garner five Grammys. We dug into our archives for the second interview with Norah in 2011, talking about her country group, the Little Willies, and musical friends, including singer songwriter Richard Julian. Norah says the band owes a debt to “Wurlitzer Prize” by Willie Nelson’s old friend, the late Waylon Jennings.

Get out your Crayolas and sketchpads, as we fill in the spectrum of musical colors. Red-hot jazz, cool blues, what we see when we hear music. All those feelings will come to light as we dig back into the archives for our epic interview with the late New Orleans piano professor Henry Butler about his eclectic musical vision.

From our archives, it’s a visit with Yale anthropologist David Watts, an old friend of mine. David loves jazz and plays classical violin, but his true virtuosity is in the savannas and rain forests of East Africa, where he has long walked and worked gracefully among wild primates. David's been in it long enough that he's named many of his wild-primate colleagues after movie stars, classical composers, and jazz musicians. I asked him why we are so attracted to gorillas, monkeys and chimps.

Raul Malo was born in Miami to Cuban parents. In 1989 he started The Mavericks. Named for going against the grain, the Mavericks began in the punk and alternative scene and eventually found great success in country music, incorporating Latin, rockabilly, and pop sounds. By 2000, the group parted ways and Raul Malo pursued a solo career in LA. He joined Los Super Seven with Joe Ely, Freddy Fender, members of Los Lobos, Max Baca, Doug Sahm, and others. In 2012, Malo reunited with the Mavericks, releasing several albums and touring widely. In 2020, they released En Español, an album entirely in Spanish. Making a record like this took Raul many years of listening within and outside his family.