Pop icon Boz Scaggs and the late Cajun honky-tonk man Jimmy C. Newman took very different paths to the stage but carried with them the sounds they grew up hearing in rural America. Boz Scaggs achieved mainstream success with his own platinum records as well as his work with Steve Miller and Duane Allman. We talk to him about 60+ years performing on the road and how he came into his own by reconnecting with the blues he heard as a kid in “Nowhere, Texas.”

Then, we remember the late Jimmy C. Newman, who took the sounds of Louisiana’s swamplands to the Grand Ole Opry and put Cajun music and culture on the map. Son Gary Newman, producer Joel Savoy and musician Kelli Jones tell of his legacy and their tribute album, Farewell, Alligator Man. Plus, we trace Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” back to its Cajun origins and play our favorite roots music from Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Professor Longhair.

American Routes can be heard Fridays at noon on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ radio.krcb.org  / Comcast channel 961 throughout the Bay Area / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!