This is American Routes, about to go live at the New Orleans Jazz Museum with keyboard wizard Davell Crawford on piano. In addition to being the Prince of New Orleans piano, Davell is a fine singer and wily raconteur who grew up in French Louisiana’s “hub city” of Lafayette and also in New Orleans. We’ll learn about his large musical career and interests, but first here’s his tribute tune to one of his greatest heroes, the late James Booker. It’s a “Song for James” on American Routes Live.

Leonard “Flaco” Jiménez is the most influential Texas-Mexican accordion player of his time. Flaco’s father Santiago Jiménez Sr. helped create the style called “conjunto” or “la música norteña,” from rancheras to polkas. Flaco Jiménez was born in 1939 in San Antonio and carried his father's sound forward. In addition to singing, Flaco became famous for his rhythmic drive, inventive solos and stage antics. From his 1950s teenage days playing local dances, Flaco emerged in the early ‘70s to record with Doug Sahm and Ry Cooder, and later Linda Ronstadt and Los Lobos. I talked to the squeezebox king about his sound and his name.

Baton Rouge guitarist, harp player and singer Kenny Neal is a second-generation leader in the city’s blues scene, born into a family of ten children. Kenny’s father Raful Neal was a noted harmonica player, influenced by Little Walter and played in a local band with Buddy Guy. Raful Neal’s friend Slim Harpo gave son Kenny Neal his first harmonica at age three. Kenny started playing bass for his father at thirteen and went on to Buddy Guy’s band. Later, he recruited his siblings to form the Neal Brothers Blues Band. In 1989, Kenny recorded a breakout swamp blues LP Big News from Baton Rouge for Alligator Records. His fine guitar work and harmonica, as well as authoritative voice, carried him forward making sixteen more records. Kenny carries on the Baton Rouge blues tradition. Let’s go to to the Juke Joint stage at West Baton Rouge Parish Museum with Kenny Neal.

Carlos Santana began playing mariachi on violin in the streets of Tijuana, but he was soon drawn to blues musicians: BB King, Jimmy Reed, and John Lee Hooker. At age 8, he switched to guitar and began developing his own sound, incorporating blues, rock, jazz, with Latin and African percussion. His father José Santana, a mariachi violinist, was not pleased, but allowed Carlos to follow his passions.

In Lafayette, our guests Cedric Watson and the late Chris Stafford have worked to preserve the Cajun and Creole culture by playing the music. Cedric Watson, a fiddler and accordionist who grew up in San Felipe, TX, taught himself the Creole language spoken by some of his elders. Cedric eventually moved to Lafayette where he became involved with several great bands, from the Pine Leaf Boys to his own group, Bijou Creole. Also in Bijou Creole was Chris Stafford, a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and researcher, known for co-founding the band Feufollet when he was only eleven years old. Unfortunately, Chris was killed in a car crash in Lafayette, Louisiana, in May 2024. We’ll soon hear a bit of Chris and Cedric’s duo set live, but first, I asked the two of them about how playing traditional French music as a duo is different than in a full band. Cedric Watson:

We are live with BeauSoleil, the venerable Cajun roots, folk and modernist band, looking back and ahead after fifty years. Brothers Michael and David Doucet were joined by Michael’s son Matthew, also a fiddler and a fiddle maker. I asked David Doucet what’s it like being in a band with his brother Michael.

Woody Guthrie is remembered as much for his politics as his music. During the Depression and World War II, Guthrie was deeply affected by the plight of American workers and the Labor Movement, and his music reflects that sympathy. But Guthrie’s art was also shaped by his family and personal life, by the travails of his parents, by his own struggles as a husband and father, and ultimately by his own declining health. In this Labor Day edition of American Routes, we’ll examine the life and music of Woody Guthrie, in the words of family, friends and fellow travelers.

This week on American Routes Shortcuts, we revisit a 2002 conversation with the band Feufollet. Multi-instrumentalist Chris Stafford passed away in May 2024. He was 36.On the Cajun side of French Louisiana, there is a tradition of children’s songs, from lullabies like “Fais Do Do Tite Mignon” to this play tune "Saute Crapaud” about a frog that needs to jump. Nowadays there’s something new in the music for youth in the French scene here: musicians from age seven up drawing crowds of kids and adults. The most widely traveled teenage Cajun band is called Feufollet. They came in to talk about why they learned to play French music, Louisiana style. We spoke with sixteen-year-old singer and guitarist Ashley Hayes, and fiddlers Chris Segura, eighteen, and Chris Stafford, the youngest at fourteen, who also plays accordion.

Christian Parish Takes the Gun, also known as Supaman, is an Apsáalooke rapper from Crow Agency, Montana. Supaman grew up in and out of foster care with alcoholic parents. He turned to hip-hop to escape from struggles he faced on the reservation. His music draws on a connection from urban style and words to cultural and spiritual life as a Native American. Supaman preserves his culture with his music and fancy dancing to express himself and uplift those around him.

Alice Gerrard has been a musician, researcher, publisher, and advocate for old-time music for much of her life. She's best known for performing and recording bluegrass and country with West Virginian, Hazel Dickens. Alice produced Sprout Wings and Fly, a film about North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell. Her introduction to old-time music happened at Antioch College in the 1950s with husband Jeremy Foster and friends. The couple soon moved to the D.C.-Baltimore area for work and found a community of traditional musicians and their followers. Alice Gerrard recalled those days.