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American Routes
American Routes is a weekly two-hour public radio program produced in New Orleans, presenting a broad range of American music — blues and jazz, gospel and soul, old-time country and rockabilly, Cajun and zydeco, Tejano and Latin, roots rock and pop, avant-garde and classical. Now in our 15th year on the air, American Routes explores the shared musical and cultural threads in these American styles and genres of music — and how they are distinguished.
This holiday weekend American Routes boogies down to bayou country to catch live music at Festival International, a showcase of French music from southwest Louisiana and the wider Francophone world along with blues, Chicano nouveau and swamp pop. For the 31st annual festival, we hear female Cajun supergroup Bonsoir, Catin tear up the stage; bluesman Corey Harris ring out the Mississippi Delta’s West African roots; and blue-eyed soul from swamp pop legends Johnnie Allan, T.K. Hulin, and G.G. Shinn. Plus, accordionist CJ Chenier, son of Clifton Chenier, proves he is carrying on the king of zydeco’s royal bloodline. Las Cafeteras from East Los Angeles give us a taste of Veracruz’s Afro-Latin jarocho music, including the folk-turned-pop song “La Bamba.” And Texas singer, fiddler, and accordionist Cedric Watson adds Caribbean and Latin flavors to his homegrown Creole sound.
