american routes shortcuts

Los Lobos are a truly Mexican and American band. A sonic feast of Mexican acoustic musical traditions, blended later with large helpings of R&B, rock, and soul. Los Lobos have been writing and performing together for over fifty years, a partnership that began back at Garfield High, in East L.A. I spoke to longtime Lobos songwriter, Louie Pérez, about the band’s neighborhood roots.

After Aretha Franklin signed with Atlantic Records in 1967, producer Jerry Wexler brought her to record in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Known for its local recording studios, including FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound, the Tennessee River town produced many hits and allowed the Black and white music worlds to coalesce. In 1967, Aretha recorded her first big hit, “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” at FAME studios, but all did not go smoothly. Studio guitarist Jimmy Johnson tells the story.

This is American Routes, remembering Flaco Jiménez, who passed away in July. Leonard “Flaco” Jiménez was 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.

Growing up in East Texas, Lyle Lovett learned to do chores on the family farm, milking cows and taking care of the horses near the town of Klein. These are things that he still often does today when not on tour. Music, not farming, turned out to be Lyle’s calling, and storytelling songs: his trademark. Today, Lyle Lovett can be found in front of his Large Band spinning some tall Texas tales. You may have even seen him at the movies, acting in Robert Altman films. When I talked to Lyle, he told a story about traveling with his grandma.

I've known pianist, songmaker, and performer Heath Allen for over fifty years. We met at Penn in Philadelphia where Heath studied under composer George Crumb. Heath Allen is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but stayed on in West Philly, building a career as a cabaret band leader, in musical theater, and creator of the Popera, Andy, an opera about Andy Warhol, among many other activities. Over the years, Heath has worked with performers ranging from singer-songwriter Susan Werner to a legendary troupe called the Bearded Ladies. Today, at home in the large light filled piano room of his stately West Philadelphia row house, surrounded by electronic keyboards, books, and paintings, Heath Allen sits barefoot at his Steinway Grand Model A, looking out over Japanese maple and Juneberry trees.

This is American Routes, twenty years after the storm and flood that left 80% of New Orleans underwater. We’re still rebuilding. Many New Orleanians haven’t come back; areas of the city remain empty, and musical leaders and recovery advocates like Dr. John and Allen Toussaint have passed. Some things have changed for the better, but we still remember what it was like before the storm. New Orleans soul singer Irma Thomas was among many who lost everything to Katrina: her home and her beloved nightclub, the Lion’s Den. Irma set up a temporary home in Gonzales, LA, about forty miles upriver. When Irma returned to her New Orleans house for the first time, the muck was deep. Seven feet of floodwater ruined everything inside except for a few posters on the wall. Two years after the storm, she was back living in New Orleans East and working on the house. We caught up with her in that year, while her front fence was being spray-painted.

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.

This is American Routes, I'm Nick Spitzer. It’s no secret, here and worldwide, we’re in a time of turmoil, in government, political attacks, secrecy and war. We asked you, our listeners, to help pick music and musicians that deal with the troubles, and we added a few songs and singers that fit the mood as best we could. They include the Staple Singers, Allen Toussaint, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Toots and the Maytals, Son Volt, Carole King and John Coltrane. ***Content warning: This episode contains the word “Goddamn” at 1:29. It is not bleeped.”

This is an encore presentation of our special program from 1999, dedicated to the late Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia's birthday falls on August 1, and he passed on August 9, 1995. Garcia was one of the transcendent, eclectic American musicians of this century and was able to creatively fuse and renew the blues, country, and jazz. On this special program, we'll dig into the roots and branches of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead's music.

James Chambers took the name Jimmy Cliff to reference the heights he would climb as a musician, singer, and actor. Since Cliff’s birth during a hurricane in rural Jamaica, people believed he was special. Cliff’s dissatisfaction with country life led him to Kingston where he met Chinese-Jamaican record producer Leslie Kong, who helped launch his career with a 1962 hit, “Hurricane Hattie.” Cliff helped Jamaican music go global performing in the film The Harder They Come. Jimmy Cliff told me how his voice carried him out into the world.