We walk the line of isolation, go outside carefully with music and words of wisdom for contemplation, comfort and hope. It’s a Corona Stray from Home Companion, in conversations with a few of our favorite artists including Tejano accordionist Flaco Jimenez and the late Ray Charles -- both speaking of their families’ role in helping them emerge as great musical citizens. We harken to the creative wisdom of jazz locally and globally. First with the late pianist Dave Brubeck whose travels abroad as a soldier and later with Louis Armstrong lead him to “Take Five” and other worldly sounds. And we take to the streets with New Orleans Original Pinettes Brass Band, the first such women’s jazz ensemble today. Plus: music from Bob Dylan, Nina Simone and John Prine.

American Routes airs Fridays at noon on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!

Find our complete programming schedule here. 

(Photo: via American Routes)

Carlos Santana speaks about playing music from the streets of Tijuana to the stage at Woodstock, launching his career in San Francisco, and his hopes for a global society explored on his new album Africa Speaks. We’ll hear from the late Tito Puente, el Rey de los Timbales, who tells about the roots of tropical Latin jazz in Spanish Harlem and how he brought his instrument, the timbales, to the foreground by moving them from the back to the front of the stage. Steve Berlin and Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos talk about their mix of American pop and Mexican traditions, and we remember Celia Cruz, la Reina de Cuba, who we spoke to in 2001 about her musical beginnings in her beloved homeland, Cuba.

American Routes airs Fridays at noon on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!

Find our complete programming schedule here. 

(Photo: via American Routes)

Texas singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver is a prolific composer who draws inspiration from his life experiences: turning horses to working in a sawmill; his relationship with religion and his family. All raw material for honing classic country songs, many of which are anthemic in the Outlaw Country music scene of yore. We’ll talk to Shaver about his life in music. Then, the former Crawfish Queen of Breaux Bridge, Yvette Landry, shares stories of coming to music and song-making later in life, and her work with the "Godfather of Swamp Pop," Warren Storm. Plus music by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Marcia Ball and Fats Domino.

American Routes airs Fridays at noon on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!

Find our complete programming schedule here. 

(Photo: Billy Joe Shaver – via American Routes)

American Routes celebrates this holiday weekend with words and music from the National Heritage Fellows Concert in Washington DC. Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has presented the fellowships. It’s America’s highest honor in Folk & Traditional Arts. This year’s fellows include Texas ranchera elders Las Tesoros de San Antonio, Basque accordionist Dan Ansotegui, Malian balafon player Balla Kouyate, African American storyteller Linda Goss, Wyoming leatherworker James F. Jackson, Spanish colcha embroiderer Josephine Lobato, decoy carver Rich Smoker, Crow storyteller Grant Bulltail and Tennessee folklorist and state parks manager Bob Fulcher. Plus fellows from years gone by: Mavis Staples, Doc Watson, Wanda Jackson and the Holmes Brothers.

American Routes airs Fridays at noon on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!

Find our complete programming schedule here. 

(Photo: via American Routes)