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This is American Routes, about to go into the studio with Creole jazz and soul singer John Boutté. You may know him for singing his theme for the TV series Tremé. John comes from an African, French, Spanish, Native, and Irish family background that begins in the mid-18th century New Orleans. His immediate family numbered ten kids; singing was a household and street corner pastime. John counts the influence of jazz elders, like Paul Barbarin, Louis “Big Eye” Nelson, and Danny Barker, as well as New Orleans piano and vocal heroes like Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and James Booker. The quality of his voice has been recognized by Stevie Wonder. He's been paired in shows with Lou Rawls and Herbie Hancock. A New Orleans vocal icon who was raised in a storied, musical neighborhood. I asked John about it.

Trudy Lynn, born Lee Audrey Nelms, grew up surrounded by music in Houston. Duke and Peacock Records, two Black-owned labels were blocks from her home. She saw legends like Joe Hinton and Bobby "Blue" Bland by the Club Matinee on her way to school. Her parents loved blues, and Trudy sang while her father tap-danced and played harmonica on the porch. She also sang in church, started a girl group, the Chromatics, with her school friends, became a vocalist with Clarence Green, and opened for Ike and Tina Turner. In 1989, she went solo on a recording called Trudy Sings the Blues. I spoke to her in Houston, where she still sings the blues.

We’re exploring the sonic hues of the blues in jazz, R & B, country, Cajun and pop. We crash a blues house party and workshop at the 2018 National Folk Festival in Salisbury, Maryland, where we speak with St. Louis guitarist Marquise Knox.

Jon Cleary may have been born in Kent, England but his musical upbringing was all New Orleans. He came to the city after college in 1980 and began his real education in the clubs, where he put in time as a sideman with heroes like Ernie K-Doe, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, and Snooks Eaglin. Cleary became a world-renowned hired gun, playing with Eric Clapton, BB King, Dr. John and Bonnie Raitt. On the home scene, Jon takes center stage playing solo shows as well as fronting his own band, the Absolute Monster Gentlemen. A while back, I sat down with Jon Cleary at the piano in his 9th Ward home, an old hardware store, and asked him how an English kid in the 1970s was introduced to the music of the Crescent City.

This summer, more than ever, the challenge is to be and stay cool. So we’re all about songs and sounds as ways to chill out. We asked musicians, critics and producers just what it means to be cool. Chicago pianist Ramsey Lewis had a huge hit with a song about cool people, “The ‘In’ Crowd," back in 1965. He's also known for adapting tunes like "A Hard Day's Night” and "Dancing in the Street" into hip jazz instrumentals. Now also a radio host, Ramsey Lewis told us he made his own brand of jazz by blending the blues he heard on the Chicago streets with gospel music from home.

WWNO, in collaboration with The Lens, presents candidate forums for the upcoming Orleans Parish School Board election on November 6. The interviews aired…

It's American Routes from New Orleans with sounds of freedom and struggle for Juneteenth. Freddie Hubbard's trumpet and flugelhorn were in great demand in the 1960's. He played on albums with pianist Herbie Hancock, straight ahead jazz drummer Art Blakey, and the free jazz explorations of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Hubbard was a prolific composer and leader in his own right, known for his anti-Vietnam war piece, "Sing Me A Song Of Songmy." Freddie Hubbard was a fixture in the New York jazz scene for over fifty years, but when he first left Indianapolis at the tender age of twenty, Freddie says he had a hard time adjusting to life in the big city.

This is American Routes, about to go into the studio with Creole jazz and soul singer John Boutté. You may know him for singing his theme for the TV series Tremé. John comes from an African, French, Spanish, Native, and Irish family background that begins in the mid-18th century New Orleans. His immediate family numbered ten kids; singing was a household and street corner pastime. John counts the influence of jazz elders, like Paul Barbarin, Louis “Big Eye” Nelson, and Danny Barker, as well as New Orleans piano and vocal heroes like Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and James Booker. The quality of his voice has been recognized by Stevie Wonder. He's been paired in shows with Lou Rawls and Herbie Hancock. A New Orleans vocal icon who was raised in a storied, musical neighborhood. I asked John about it.

Rhonda Vincent grew up in a five-generation musical family from Greentop, Missouri, a tiny town near the Iowa border. Her father led the family band, the Sally Mountain Show, as they traveled the Midwest bluegrass circuit in the 1970s. Rhonda was Missouri State Fiddle Champion. She's gone on to become a bluegrass band leader with her group, The Rage, winning a Grammy and being inducted at the Grand Ole Opry. Her daughters Sally and Tensel are also musicians. For Rhonda, it all started when her dad needed more players at a family gig.

Our guest is singer, pianist and octogenarian Tommy McClain, one of the last standing Louisiana swamp pop singers. He told us how much he enjoyed being on the road, singing for new audiences. Tommy is known in Louisiana for his hit 1966 cover of “Sweet Dreams” and his contributions to swamp pop. He’s also recorded gospel music, wrote songs for Freddy Fender and toured with the Dick Clark Road Shows in the 1960s. Tommy’s now back in the studio with Elvis Costello and producer C.C. Adcock and recorded a 2022 album I Ran Down Every Dream. Entertaining has been a constant for him since his early days in Pineville, LA singing for his family and listening to the Grand Ole Opry. But his whole path changed when he went to a concert nearby in Alexandria.