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THE FUNK SOUL UNIVERSE: GALACTIC AND JOE BATAAN

It’s an exploration of the funk universe on American Routes. New York City’s pioneer of Afro-Latin Soul, Joe Bataan, tells us about his boogaloo beginnings, melding latin beats with soulful sounds and his move toward “salsoul” and rap. And a conversation with Stanton Moore and Ben Ellman from New Orleans’ Galactic about their love of all things funky from the Crescent City and beyond.

AMERICAN ROUTES LIVE! THE METERS, DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, AND BATON ROUGE BLUES FESTIVAL

Time for some “Fire on the Bayou” at a rare reunion of New Orleans’ funk jam band and studio wizards, The Meters on stage at the Howlin’ Wolf club. Then Drive-By Truckers, fronted by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, bring their poetic and critical style of Southern rock to New Orleans’ historic Civic Theatre. Finally we roll 80 miles upriver to the Baton Rouge Blues Festival, featuring dapper Mississippian Little Freddie King; Louisiana swamp blues guitarist Lil Buck Sinegal; Creole zydeco accordionist Jeffery Broussard; and Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens from New York. Turn on, tune in and chill out!

GUITAR HEROES: PAT MARTINO & BEN HALL

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.

FESTIVAL TIME IN LAFAYETTE, LA

Join us on the festival grounds in Lafayette, LA for the annual Festival International. We’ll sample outstanding live performances in Cajun, Creole, Latin and Blues, including Keb’ Mo’, Sonny Landreth, and Steve Riley. Be sure to get out your dancing shoes for cumbia with Miami’s Locos Por Juana, two-steps with Yvette Landry and Cajun waltzes with the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Plus an all-star South Louisiana tribute to the best of swamp pop, Cajun classics and zydeco.

LOVERS, BROTHERS AND OTHERS: MAKING SWEET MUSIC TOGETHER

Music made by couples, families and siblings often has a special quality. The same is true of people who have a musical attraction to one another: Lennon and McCartney, or Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Country traditionalist and mandolin player Marty Stuart was 12 years old when he met country chanteuse Connie Smith at a road show in his native Mississippi. Decades later Marty and Connie were married. They talk about their spring-fall relationship and making music together as “old souls.” We’ll talk to Joan Baez about writing for Bob Dylan and her singing his songs. Plus the Black Keys tell us how they teamed up, as did real brothers Trombone Shorty and James Andrews. We’ll also hear from the Cajun married duo of Marc and Ann Savoy.