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The revival marks the largest comeback attempt to date for the 84-year-old landmark.
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This is American Routes for St. Patrick's, with singers, fiddlers and pickers from Ireland to Appalachia live in this hour. Sharing Irish, bluegrass and country tunes with one another at the 80th National Folk Festival. Beginning with brothers Rob and Ronnie McCoury playing banjo and mandolin on stage in Salisbury, Maryland, 2021 with Ronnie's tune, " Quicksburg Rondevouz."
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We hear New York Times investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, in conversation with former New Orleans Mayor, Mitch Landrieu. Nikole Hannah-Jones is most recognized for her work on the 1619 Project, which has won numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020. The 1619 Project became the target of public critique from Republican governor, Ron Santis, in his crusade against "CRT" and "wokeness" in academia. Nikole Hannah-Jones recounts how she became involved in journalism, talks about the origins of the1619 Project and the importance of national "creation myths," and responds to her most vocal critics.
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In Lafayette today, our guests are Cedric Watson and Chris Stafford, part of a younger generation that is preserving Cajun and Creole culture by playing the music. Cedric Watson, a fiddler and accordionist who grew up in San Felipe, TX, taught himself the Creole language spoken by some of his elders. Cedric eventually moved to Lafayette where he became involved with several great bands, from the Pine Leaf Boys to his own group, Bijou Creole. Also in Bijou Creole is Chris Stafford, a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and researcher, known for co-founding the band Feufollet when he was eleven years old. We’ll soon hear a bit of Chris and Cedric’s duo set live, but first, I asked the two of them about how playing traditional French music as a duo is different than a full band. Cedric Watson:
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This week on American Routes, it’s a rare Leap Year show with Guilty Pleasures and Forgotten Treasures. As the 29th of February rolls around we take stock of our circles round the sun, just for cosmic fun, not so much to analyze but to imagine our years in space and time. We’ll have music from fellow travelers: The Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, King Pleasure, and Sun Ra.
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The Carolina Chocolate Drops began as a seminal African American group that revived the old-time string band tradition of the Piedmont where Black performers were formative from the 19th century onward. The Chocolate Drops started out as the Sankofa Strings after meeting at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, NC in 2005. They evolved over the next decade. Rhiannon Giddens, trained formally in opera, played banjo and fiddle and sang with her bandmates to growing audiences.
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The Historic New Orleans Collection spotlights the late Harry Connick Sr.