American Routes: Cultural Continuity & Creativity in the Vernacular Humanities

FAIN: TR-264630-19

Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, The (New Orleans, LA 70118-5698)
Nick Spitzer (Project Director: August 2018 to present)

Production of eight, two-hour radio programs on American music and culture.

American Routes radio program seeks support for a series of 8 new humanities-oriented 2-hour programs for broadcast nationwide in 2019-20. The programs will focus on the role of cultural continuity and creativity in response to natural and man-made disasters, economic downturn, migration from and to home, and concerns about the future of communities and cultures. As a companion piece, we propose to work with various organizations to arrange community forums for the proposed programs that take place in a "place": NYC, Miami, Honolulu, Galax, VA, and New Orleans. Each gathering will be tailored to a particular program as a means to discuss humanities issues the program will try to address, and to seek guidance on content from local audiences and authorities. A detailed description of the programs is in the "treatments" attachment and details about the forum component are in the "narrative" attachment.

Associated Products

EMPRESS OF THE BLUES: BESSIE SMITH (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: EMPRESS OF THE BLUES: BESSIE SMITH
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: Bessie Smith: Empress of the Blues. Smith was called the Empress of the Blues, but she was also the highest paid African American entertainer of her generation. We explored her life from her early days performing on Chattanooga street corners and her travels on the TOBA circuit to her decade as a top selling recording artist. An interview with NYU cultural anthropologist Maureen Mahon, whose research interests include African American music and culture; the construction and performance of race and gender in music; and the relationship between race, class, generation, and culture, sheds light on Smith’s impact on music. Archival interviews with musicians who worked with Smith and recent interviews with musicians influenced by her illustrate her importance and her experience. For this program we found a great deal of support from the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.
Date: 09/23/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1187/Empress-of-the-Blues-Bessie-Smith
Primary URL Description: American Routes website stream.
Format: Web

Celebrating Jazz Fest at 50: With Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson: (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Celebrating Jazz Fest at 50: With Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson:
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: Celebrating Jazz Fest at 50: With Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson: We presented the significance of the first 50 years of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival by looking back at historic performances from the first festival in 1970. Live recordings from Jazz Fest royalty, Duke Ellington and the Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson provided entertaining sounds from the festival while commentary from scholars and archival interviews gave perspective on the history and cultural significance of the Festival and, particularly Ellington and Jackson. Interviews with professor/musician Michael White and biographer Mark Burford and New Orleans gospel singer Cynthia Girtley and collaboration with the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University.
Date: 04/22/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1165/Celebrating-Jazz-Fest-at-50-with-Duke-Ellington-and-Mahalia-Jackson
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website.
Format: Web

Ellis Marsalis Remembered: Family Memories and Music (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Ellis Marsalis Remembered: Family Memories and Music
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: Ellis Marsalis Remembered: Family Memories and Music: There is no more recognizable family name in jazz from New Orleans and beyond than Marsalis. This program paid tribute to pianist and Marsalis family patriarch Ellis Marsalis Jr. who passed away from Covid-19 in April 2020, and to his musical offspring sons Branford (saxophone), Wynton (trumpet), Delfeayo (trombone) and Jason (drums and vibraphone). The conversation explores coming of age in a family of musicians, with expectations of performing at the highest level, to the culture of the interplay of traditional and modern jazz in New Orleans. Previously unheard are Wynton’s remarkable memorial oration and a live set with youngest son Jason Marsalis playing the music of his late father. It’s the enduring and thriving musical legacy of the Marsalis family.
Date: 04/14/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1216/Ellis-Marsalis-Remembered-Family-Memories-Music-with-Branford-Wynton-Delfeayo-and-Jason-Marsalis
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website.
Access Model: Open access
Format: Web

Santana Speaks (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Santana Speaks
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: Santana Speaks: This program is a biography of Carlos Santana whose music represents a true musical fusion of various influences including Latin instruments, Afro beats, and blues-style solo guitar. He discusses playing music on the streets of Tijuana and on the stage at Woodstock. He discusses how he absorbed the various cultures and musics around him in San Francisco, and his hopes for a global society explored on his new album Africa Speaks. In the interview Santana cites the legendary Tito Puente as one of his cultural and musical heros. For perspective, we drew from an archival interview with the late Tito Puente, el Rey de los Timbales, about the roots of tropical Latin jazz in Spanish Harlem and how he brought his instrument, the timbales, to the foreground by moving them from the back to the front of the stage. Steve Berlin and Cesar Rosas are included to discuss Los Lobos and their mix of American pop and Mexican traditions.
Date: 09/25/2019
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1135/Santana-Speaks-with-Celia-Cruz-Tito-Puente-and-Los-Lobos
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website.
Access Model: Open access website
Format: Web

Billy Joe Shaver (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Billy Joe Shaver
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran/Olivia Broslawsky
Abstract: Billy Joe Shaver: This program is a biography of the late Texas singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. Shaver was a prolific composer who drew inspiration from his life experiences including working with horses, working in a sawmill, his relationship with religion, and his family. His story explains the country songwriter experience in Nashville.
Date: 05/27/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1170/The-Outlaw-Poet-and-the-Crawfish-Queen-Billy-Joe-Shaver-Yvette-Landry
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website
Access Model: open access website
Format: Web

After the Storm: Katrina at 15 (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: After the Storm: Katrina at 15
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran/Olivia Broslawskey
Abstract: After the Storm: Katrina at 15: 15 years ago Hurricane Katrina and levee failures covered 80% of New Orleans in water. The storm left a huge human and ecological disaster in its wake. American Routes staff produced was forced to evacuate our studios and our city but never halted production. The noted American Routes After the Storm series that came out of that tragedy offered displaced and depressed South Louisianians comfort and remembrances of home. Now 15 years later, we take a look back at the catastrophe, recovery and renewed hope for the culture of the Crescent City with another edition of this series. The series includes conversations with Irma Thomas, the Rebirth Brass Band, archived interviews with now deceased Dr. John and Alan Toussaint and archival audio from our first broadcast After the Storm in September 2005.
Date: 08/26/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/search?terms=After%20the%20Storm:%20Katrina%20at%2015
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website
Access Model: open access website
Format: Web

American Routes Live (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: American Routes Live
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran/Olivia Broslawsky
Abstract: American Routes Live: As the quarantine continued, through tracking listener comments we recognized a need for more human contact and felt that more live performance could help. We partnered with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park and the Jean Lafitte National Park to produce a series of socially-distanced performances and artist interviews, some outside in an old firehouse yard and most in the large, well-ventilated Esplanade Studios. The programs were live-streamed with strong AV production on NPS’s Jazz Park Facebook and post-produced into American Routes performance programs. One such program featured outdoor, socially distanced interviews with Leyla McCalla and Donald Harrison, each of whom bring their family heritage forward into contemporary music, livestreamed on social media and recorded to create an American Routes program. These interviews also addressed current events through a historical cultural lens and shows the pivot we made during Covid challenges. Singer McCalla discussed how she draws on French Creole roots for inspiration, as well as from the poetry of Langston Hughes. Jazz saxophonist Big Chief Donald Harrison, discussed “Afro-New Orleans” culture and demonstrated how to bring soul, funk, and Black carnival traditions into modern jazz.
Date: 11/11/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1194/American-Routes-Live-Cajun-Troubadour-Zachary-Richard-and-New-Orleans-Creole-Jazzman-Don-Vappie
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website
Access Model: Open access website
Format: Web

SPRING AWAKENING: A CORONA GLOBAL COMPANION (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: SPRING AWAKENING: A CORONA GLOBAL COMPANION
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran/Olivia Broslawsky
Abstract: This series of programs built on the American Routes staff’s experience offering comfort and companionship following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the After the Storm series. Our initial response to the pandemic was to offer sounds of solace and words of wisdom to comfort listeners through the solitude and the unknown. The result was a program series entitled the Corona Stay at Home Companion. The mix of music in the series began with offering comfort and later turned to offering hope and a touch of Many commented that it provided company, humor or hope.
Date: 04/08/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1216/Ellis-Marsalis-Remembered-Family-Memories-Music-with-Branford-Wynton-Delfeayo-and-Jason-Marsalis
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American routes website.
Access Model: Open access website
Format: Web

CORONA STAY AT HOME COMPANION VOL 2: SOUNDS OF SOLACE (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: CORONA STAY AT HOME COMPANION VOL 2: SOUNDS OF SOLACE
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: This series of programs built on the American Routes staff’s experience offering comfort and companionship following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the After the Storm series. Our initial response to the pandemic was to offer sounds of solace and words of wisdom to comfort listeners through the solitude and the unknown. The result was a program series entitled the Corona Stay at Home Companion. The mix of music in the series began with offering comfort and later turned to offering hope and a touch of Many commented that it provided company, humor or hope.
Date: 04/29/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1166/Corona-Stay-at-Home-Companion-Vol-2-Sounds-of-Solace
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website
Access Model: Open access website
Format: Web

MUSIC AND WORDS OF WISDOM: A CORONA STRAY FROM HOME COMPANION, VOL. 3 (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: MUSIC AND WORDS OF WISDOM: A CORONA STRAY FROM HOME COMPANION, VOL. 3
Director: Nick Spitzer
Producer: Maureen Loughran
Abstract: This series of programs built on the American Routes staff’s experience offering comfort and companionship following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the After the Storm series. Our initial response to the pandemic was to offer sounds of solace and words of wisdom to comfort listeners through the solitude and the unknown. The result was a program series entitled the Corona Stay at Home Companion. The mix of music in the series began with offering comfort and later turned to offering hope and a touch of Many commented that it provided company, humor or hope.
Date: 06/10/2020
Primary URL: http://http://www.americanroutes.org/archives/show/1172/Music-and-Words-of-Wisdom-A-Corona-Stray-From-Home-Companion-Vol-3
Primary URL Description: Program streaming on American Routes website.
Access Model: open access website
Format: Web

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