American Routes

A Note to Listeners: The staff of The Savvy Traveler, which currently airs Sundays at midnight, has decided to end production of the program this month. Beginning in April, the BBC World Service will air daily from midnight until 5 a.m. on 91FM.

Exploring Our Musical "Routes"
Spend the final hours of your weekend with American Routes, a two-hour, weekly excursion into America's rich body of musical styles and genres. Host Nick Spitzer stays away from conventional radio play-lists, opting instead to sample it all -- from moody blues and Motown to zydeco, country, klezmer and jazz -- during this constantly eclectic series. American Routes also showcases the nation's top music makers, presenting interviews with renowned artists like Steve Earle, Jerry Garcia, Ellis Marsalis and Marcia Ball. Sundays at 6 p.m. (with a repeat on Saturdays at 9 p.m.) on WHYY 91FM

More about Nick Spitzer, host of American Routes
Nick Spitzer is a scholar, documentary producer and program host known for his informed and witty style in presenting American cultures and communities to audiences from Carnegie Hall to the National Mall, from Public Radio International to PBS.

Spitzer spent a decade at the Smithsonian and has recently returned to Louisiana where he had previously served as the State Folklorist. Currently the Zemurray Professor of Folklore and Cultural Conservation at the University of New Orleans' College of Urban and Public Affairs, Spitzer is known to public radio audiences nationwide for his award-winning Folk Masters series from Wolf Trap, cultural features on All Things Considered, and as artistic director of the annual "American Roots Fourth of July."

With his background in documentary media, American culture and "underground" progressive radio, Spitzer is well positioned to bring new audiences to the music and musicians he loves through American Routes.