Join us for American Routes Live! as the Gulf Coast’s nationally heard public radio program dedicated to American music presents a live, on-stage show with masters of New Orleans traditional jazz and Cajun music from French Louisiana.
Clarinetist Dr. Michael White will lead his hot seven-piece Original Liberty Jazz Band in verve and style with classic songs, marches, hymns and blues. They will be joined on stage by another legend of New Orleans music — vocalist and cultural ambassador Topsy Chapman. Plus, Michael Doucet, the fiddler and founder of Lafayette’s BeauSoleil, will play two-steps, waltzes and tunes from Bamako to Carencro in a virtuosic style backed by the definitive Cajun band on the eve of their 40th anniversary.
Both “Michaels” are NEA Heritage Fellows who will perform in an unprecedented combined appearance in the beautifully-restored Civic Theater (originally a 1906 Shubert Theater) at 510 O’Keefe Street. They are joined by the natty New Orleans-dwelling Mississippi bluesman and raconteur Little Freddie King, with his tales of making a guitar from a cigar box with horsehair strings; and the Electrifying Crown Seekers with their mesmerizing blend of falsetto voices and sanctified guitars.
Look for these musicians and special guests to join American Routes host Nick Spitzer as he guides music lovers in a new theatrical setting for the venerable radio show!
Tickets: $25, $35, $45 and $75 available at www.CivicNola.com, all Ticketmaster outlets and at the Civic Theater box office on the day of show. To attend a special meet and greet reception with Nick and the artists on stage from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., you can add $25 to any level at the box office on the day of the show!
American Routes Live! is supported by grants from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program is distributed by PRX—Public Radio Exchange, and produced in collaboration with Tulane University with additional support from the Louisiana Dept. of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Louisiana Entertainment, WWNO — New Orleans Public Radio, Offbeat and Basin Street Records.