Celebrating our Nation's Birthday with Great All-American Music
June 24th, 2009 ~ American Routes has teamed up with the Ponderosa Stomp music festival, bluegrass master Del McCoury and New Orleans’ own Preservation Hall to celebrate our nation’s rich musical and cultural heritage this Fourth of July holiday.
The popular Routes, now in its eleventh year on the air, will broadcast select portions of the Ponderosa Stomp from this past April, timed to lead in to the second Stomp concert from July 16-17 at Lincoln Center in the heart of New York City. Performances include James Burton and Dale Hawkins reuniting on stage for the hit “Suzie Q,” and Philly soul legend Howard Tate with his classic song “Get it While You Can.”
Stepping up for a second hour is the legendary Del McCoury and his band, joined on stage by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This meeting of New Orleans and Appalachia, part of Preservation Hall’s “American Legacies” series, was the first time bluegrass and jazz had come together on stage at the landmark French Quarter venue.
“In a time of difficulty across the country we felt that the hope and pluralism found in American music and culture was good way to celebrate the Fourth of July,” says American Routes host and folklorist Nick Spitzer. “American Routes, the Ponderosa Stomp and Preservation Hall are all based in New Orleans,” Spitzer said. “And, let’s face it, we’ve come through our own crisis with spirits intact.”
The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the legacy, revitalizing the careers and preserving the history of the architects of American music. Their landmark concert series has become indispensable to both New Orleans and New York, two cities in which music and celebration are inseparable from daily life.
Preservation Hall , located in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter just three blocks from the Mississippi River, was created in 1961 to preserve and honor traditional New Orleans jazz music and the musicians who play it.
American Routes is a weekly aural journey down the highways and byways of American music, produced in collaboration with Tulane University and distributed by American Public Media to nearly a million listeners on over 300 radio stations, nationwide.
