AMERICAN ROUTES
Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush June 22nd, 2022 (Hour 1)
Earl Scruggs & Tom Rush

Earl Scruggs‘ legendary banjo playing, aptly named “Scruggs Style,” has left its mark on American pop culture and inspired generations of banjo players. In the late 1960s, Scruggs, along with his sons, bravely crossed musical boundaries, but his musical journey really started back at the beginnings of bluegrass, playing with Bill Monroe and later, Lester Flatt. In this American Routes encore, we talk to Earl and his sons, Randy and Gary, about performing on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and why he doesn’t need to crack jokes about the banjo. New Hampshire-born folk singer songwriter Tom Rush may have gone to Harvard and studied with a ballad scholar, but he still knows how to sing the blues. We’ll visit with Rush to learn more about Boston’s folk scene in the 1960s, his time as a radio DJ and his inspired approach to songwriting.

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WORDS & MUSIC

May 30th, 2012

Do the words make the song or the notes? What does it take to tell a good tale in music or about music? We asked these questions to a few writers of both songs and stories. Singer-songwriter and memoirist Rosanne Cash sits down before a live audience to tell us about her authorial journey, then we chat with novelist Cyril Vetter on translating a musician’s life into fiction. And New Orleans bluesman Little Freddie King spins a few tall tales from the juke joint.

  • Listen to Hour One
  • Listen to Hour Two

HOUR ONE

  • Open Bed: That's Alright Mama Bill Frisell
    Disfarmer, Nonesuch
  • You Can't Judge a Book By the Cover Bo Diddley
    Willie Dixon: The Chess Box, Chess
  • Paper Back Writer The Beatles
    The Beatles 1962-1966, Apple
  • Write Me a Few of Your Lines Mississippi Fred McDowell
    The Best of Fred McDowell, Arhoolie
  • Write Me a Few of Your Lines Bonnie Raitt
    Takin' My Time, Warner Brothers
  • Almost Persuaded Etta James
    The Essential Etta James, MCA/ Chess
  • The Way We Make A Broken Heart John Hiatt w/ Rosanne Cash
    The Best of John Hiatt, Capitol
  • Instrumental: Death Letter Cassandra Wilson
    New Moon Daughter, Blue Note
  • I Walk the Line Johnny Cash
    The Legend, Columbia/ Legacy
  • SEGMENT: Rosanne Cash

    Listen
  • Tennessee Flat Top Box Rosanne Cash
    Kings Record Shop, Columbia
  • I Still Miss Some One Johnny Cash
    Cash: The Legend, Columbia/ Legacy
  • Instrumental: Real Life Stories Donald Harrison
    Reali Life Stories, Nagel Heyer 2022
  • Dark End of the Street James Carr
    The Essential James Carr, Razor & Tie
  • The Same Old Story Billie Holiday
    Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia, Columbia
  • Summertime Herbie Hancock with Joni Mitchell & Stevie Wonder
    Gershwin's World, Verve
  • Dixie Flyer Randy Newman
    The Randy Newman Songbook Vol.2, Nonesuch
  • End Bed: One Sweet Letter From You Coleman Hawkins & Lionel Hampton Orchestra
    Jazz Tribune No. 52 The Indispensible Coleman Hawkins, RCA

HOUR two

  • Open Bed: Driftin' Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, Mark Whitfield
    Fingerpainting: The Music of Herbie Hancock, Verve
  • Nirvana Tom Waits
    Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, Anti-
  • Bus to Baton Rouge Lucinda Williams
    Essence, Lost Highway
  • SEGMENT: Cyril Vetter

    Listen
  • Instrumental: Chicken Reel Bill Monroe & Doc Watson
    Live Duet Recordings 1963-1980, Smithsonian Folkways
  • Barnyard Dance Martin, Bogan and Armstrong
    Barnyard Dance, Rounder
  • Uncle Bud Boozoo Chavis
    Who Stole My Monkey?, Rounder
  • CLIP: Little Freddie King
  • Chicken Dance Little Freddie King
    You Don't Know What I Know, Fat Possum
  • Whole Lotta Shakin' Carl Perkins
    The Classics, Bear Family
  • Instrumental: This is a Pig Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile
    Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile, Nonesuch
  • May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister Charlie Poole
    You Ain’t Talkin’ to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music, Columbia/ Legacy
  • Motorpsycho Nitemare Bob Dylan
    Another Side of Bob Dylan, Columbia
  • The Weight The Band
    Music From the Big Pink, Capital
  • I Can't Help From Cryin' Sometime The Staples Singers
    The Staples Singers/ Great Day, Milestone
  • Wrote a Song For Everyone Mavis Staples
    You Are Not Alone, Anti-
  • End Bed: Pop's Instrumental The Staples Singers
    The Staples Singers/ Great Day, Milestone

THE LATEST STREAMS

  • June 22nd, 2022

    EARL SCRUGGS & TOM RUSH

    Listen
  • June 15th, 2022

    SOUNDS OF FREEDOM: FONTELLA BASS AND FREDDIE HUBBARD

    Listen
  • June 8th, 2022

    SHADES OF THE BLUES

    Listen
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