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!

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American Routes

May 07, 2021

Guilty Pleasures Deluxe on American Routes – Saturday at 2pm  

Somewhere on our journey over the past two decades at American Routes, we started talking about “guilty pleasures” shows, where old free form radio roots called for the pleasure of old favorites and new discoveries. But since we broadcast from New Orleans, we’ll drop the word guilty and roll on…
April 30, 2021

Soul Sisters on American Routes – Saturday at 2pm  

We talk to three soul singers from the formative era of the mid-1950s through Motown of the late 60s, and an all-female New Orleans brass band. Justine “Baby” Washington talks about growing up in Harlem and her hits such as “That’s How Heartaches Are Made.” Maxine Brown started as a teenager in NYC…
March 26, 2021

Sweet Inspiration: Dan Penn & Trudy Lynn on American Routes – Saturday at 2pm

Singer-Songwriter Dan Penn is the master behind so many well-loved R&B songs, from James and Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet” to Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and Alex Chilton and the Box Tops “Cry Like a Baby,” and many more. We’ll talk with him about his prolific catalog of…

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