American Routes ®

Working class, self-styled and always opinionated, the late King of Bluegrass Jimmy Martin talks guitar-picking, hunting dogs and the Opry. And singer of songs, Percy Sledge recalls going from hospital orderly to Atlantic Records soul singer with "When a Man Loves a Woman."

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.

Celebrate the National Folk Festival with American Routes. For over 70 years, the National Folk Festival has traveled from coast to coast, bringing the music of the people to the people. We'll head to the old mining town of Butte, Montana to meet the folks who recently put on the show and the city that came out to see them. Then we'll mine the archives and listen in on classic moments from past National Folk Festivals. All this plus music to get you in the summer festival frame of mind.