American Routes ®

A visit with two native sons of the Texas Gulf Coast. Guitar slinger Johnny Winter grew up listening to the blues in Beaumont, Texas and took his talent for playing to the world. We talk with Winter about his Texas youth and his blues milestones. Jazz pianist Jason Moran started out in Houston playing classical music, but found his way to jazz through Thelonious Monk. We'll learn more about his adventures in the NYC jazz scene.

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American Routes celebrates the 2012 National Heritage Fellows live in concert from George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. Nick hosts the evening of music and stories, honoring the nation's finest practitioners of traditional arts. This year fellows include Tejano accordionist Flaco Jimenez, multi-instrumentalist Andy Statman, Tidewater gospel quartet the Paschall Brothers and dobro master Mike Auldridge.

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We'll sample the sabor latino in American music. Join us for conversation with Los Lobos on their mix of American pop and Mexican traditions. We'll visit Los Cenzontles, a community arts center in San Francisco dedicated to the teaching of Mexican music, and drop by a Philadelphia radio show spinning salsa hits for the neighborhood. Then, we'll sit in with pianist and bandleader Oscar Hernandez of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra for some Nuyorican beats and salsa moves. Plus a special performance by San Antonio's queen of the conjunto accordion, Eva Ybarra.

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Join us this week for an exploration of the guitar in jazz, blues and country music. We'll visit with modern jazz guitarist Pat Martino at his home in Philadelphia and find out more about his formulas for playing jazz solos. Then it's a conversation with up and coming thumbpicking guitarist Ben Hall, who walks us through the Merle Travis songbook.

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