Country singer Kelsey Waldon grew up in the Ohio River bottoms of Ballard County, Kentucky, a place called “Monkey’s Eyebrow,” where her father runs a hunting lodge and her mother’s family has been farming for generations. Kelsey started writing songs at a young age, went to Nashville at nineteen, played in bars, studied songwriting and later released noted albums that landed her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. It was there with the now late songman John Prine that she agreed to join his label, Oh Boy Records, in 2019, the first artist Prine had signed in fifteen years. Kelsey counts John as a mentor, but remembers the first encounter with music came from her nanny.

Our guest is the late singer, pianist and swamp pop hero, Tommy McLain, who passed away in July 2025. He told us how much he enjoyed being on the road, singing for new audiences. Tommy’s known in Louisiana for his hit cover in 1966 of “Sweet Dreams” and his contributions to swamp pop. He also recorded gospel music, wrote songs for Freddy Fender and toured with Dick Clark’s Road Shows in the 1960s. Tommy went back in the studio later in life with Elvis Costello and producer C.C. Adcock to record a 2022 album I Ran Down Every Dream. Entertaining was a constant for him since his early days in Pineville, LA, singing for his family and listening to the Grand Ole Opry. But his whole path changed when he went to a concert nearby in Alexandria.

Baton Rouge guitarist, harp player and singer Kenny Neal is a second-generation leader in the city’s blues scene, born into a family of ten children. Kenny’s father Raful Neal was a noted harmonica player, influenced by Little Walter and played in a local band with Buddy Guy. Raful Neal’s friend Slim Harpo gave son Kenny Neal his first harmonica at age three. Kenny started playing bass for his father at thirteen and went on to Buddy Guy’s band. Later, he recruited his siblings to form the Neal Brothers Blues Band. In 1989, Kenny recorded a breakout swamp blues LP Big News from Baton Rouge for Alligator Records. His fine guitar work and harmonica, as well as authoritative voice, carried him forward making sixteen more records. Kenny carries on the Baton Rouge blues tradition. Let’s go to to the Juke Joint stage at West Baton Rouge Parish Museum with Kenny Neal.

This is American Routes for the Fourth of July weekend, celebrating our country’s 250th year and more live music recalling the fiftieth anniversary of the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center. Including Afro-French zydeco and blues from South Louisiana accordionist Jeffery Broussard, classic folk songs from Johnette Downing and Scott Billington, Bentonia, Mississippi, blues from guitar slinger Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and the latest Cajun French stylings of Louis Michot and band. First, here’s John Fenn, Head of Research and Programs at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, to tell a bit about the Center’s work and legacy over the last half century.

The late tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins was one of the premier players in jazz. Rollins has been a favorite of both fans and critics, traversing bebop and cool with a strong melodic sound. The calypso rhythm that Sonny Rollins captured on one of his best-known tunes, “St. Thomas,” comes from family life. Sonny’s parents were natives of the Virgin Islands. Sonny was born Walter Theodore Rollins in 1930 and grew up in Harlem. His brother and sister were classically trained musicians, but Sonny turned to jazz early, and by his twenties, he was playing tenor sax with top jazzmen like Bud Powell, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. By the late 1950s, Sonny Rollins had a long list of recordings to his name. Many are still classics today, including Saxophone Colossus, Tenor Madness, and Freedom Suite. Sonny Rollins’s music ranges from social statements to sweet remakes of popular songs. He absorbed it all in his youth: the sounds of his neighborhood, the radio and movies, and the music in his household.

The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of those enslaved in the Sea Islands of Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. Because of the remoteness of the plantations, the Gullah Geechee were able to retain some of their African traditions, including the ring shout. It’s a ritual in which participants move counterclockwise in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping their hands, in call and response fashion. The tradition is rooted in West African culture, mixed with elements of Christianity. The Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters from Darien, Georgia have preserved this ancestral heritage through performance and education since 1980. They joined us on stage at the New Orleans Jazz Museum where they started with a song you will probably recognize, that came from the Gullah Geechee culture.

We’re live at Marigny Studios with Little Freddie King, an old school bluesman from McComb, Mississippi who lives in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Little Freddie is a great teller of tales. During the session, we talked about his comings and goings in music, and I asked about the story behind his homemade first guitar.

This is American Routes with a tribute to the legendary New Orleans drummer, James Black. Black also composed tunes like "Monkey Puzzle" and "Dee Wee," both recorded by Ellis Marsalis' ensemble in the early 1960s. As a composer, Black received support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This is American Routes Live with New Orleans trombonist Corey Henry and his Treme Funktet at Marigny Studios, at the edge of the French Quarter. As the name of the band suggests, the Faubourg Tremé is an important part of Corey’s family history and his development as a musician. I asked him about the origins of the group.

Creole accordion player Edward, “Eddie,” Poullard is a third-generation musician, born in Eunice, LA. He moved to Beaumont, TX, as a young child with his French-speaking family, and started learning music from father, John, a well-known old-time La-La accordionist. When he was nineteen, Eddie played house parties and church dances in his father’s group, the Poullard Family Band. He went on to learn from and tour with Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot. Eddie Poullard is also a master woodworker, specializing in building accordions. He keeps the tradition alive by teaching Creole and Cajun fiddle and accordion styles at festivals and music camps, as well as mentoring musicians from his community and own family.