AMERICAN ROUTES

About the Show

Hosted by Nick Spitzer, American Routes is a weekly two-hour public radio program produced in New Orleans, presenting a broad range of American music – blues and jazz, gospel and soul, old-time country and rockabilly, Cajun and zydeco, Tejano and Latin, roots rock and pop, avant-garde and classical. American Routes explores the shared musical and cultural threads in these American styles and genres of music – and how they are distinguished.
About the Host
American Routes host and producer, Nick Spitzer is a folklorist specializing in American music and cultures of the Gulf South, with a long history of involvement in radio. Host, artistic director, and producer of the award-winning program Folk Masters (now on Smithsonian Folkways CDs), Spitzer is also a contributor of features on American music and culture to NPR’s All Things Considered. In 1993, he initiated an annual American Roots 4th of July concert, broadcast live from the National Mall on NPR.

Spitzer’s radio experience goes back to the 1970s, when he served first as program director of WXPN-FM the college radio station at Penn in Philadelphia. After graduation, he was afternoon drive host on the popular “underground” rock station WMMR-FM in Philadelphia. Spitzer later worked as a deejay on the legendary progressive country station, KOKE-FM during the early boom days of the Austin music scene. In 1995 for his work with Creole cultures, he was named as a fellow at the School of American Research in Santa Fe. He has also served on the boards of the American Folklore Society, Fund for Folk Culture, and National Council for the Traditional Arts. Spitzer holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Texas; his research was in African-French Louisiana Creoles and zydeco music. He is currently professor of folklore and cultural conservation at the University of New Orleans.

Visit the American Routes web site.

About Our Host

Audrey Morton