Produced and hosted by folklorist and musicologist Nick Spitzer, who provides an absorbing mix of interviews, documentary features, commentary and music, American Routes is a nationally distributed, two-hour radio program usually focusing on individual artists and particular themes, musical genres, holidays, events or places.
“In the history of American radio, no series has come close to Nick Spitzer’s American Routes in exploring the many streams of this nation’s music.”
— Nat Hentoff, The Wall Street Journal
Nick Spitzer’s American Routes
Produced in New Orleans and intimately attuned to a multitude of musical byways. Over the years, Spitzer has shared much of his field work documenting not only musical traditions but cultural heritage and living art forms including Mardi Gas Indians, Baby Dolls and other practitioners of Carnival arts. The online archives and playlists are a veritable trove for lovers of roots music and Americana. A professor of anthropology and American studies at Tulane University, Spitzer is steeped in New Orleans Mardi Gras as well as its rural Cajun counterpart, known as the Courir de Mardi Gras. On AmericanRoutes.org, search keywords “Carnival” or “Mardi Gras” for special episodes focusing on the music and customs of Mardi Gras. Or click on these links:
MardiGrasTraditions.com