How to Tour America Through Her Music

with host Brant Huddleston
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Tour the United States of America, learning about the music and musicians from the country's many regions. With the spirit of Woody Guthrie as our guide, we'll discover the roots of America through folk, gospel, bluegrass, R&B, and blues music. We'll migrate to rock and roll, the music that grew alongside, and even sparked, a tidal shift in American culture, politics, and power. It’s all Americana, and it’s all good. branthuddleston.substack.com

Episodes

  1. 05/17/2025

    Episode Finale: Music for the End of the Road

    Just Joining? Welcome to the “How to Tour America Through Her Music” podcast! I’m glad you are here. Please feel free to listen to this episode on its own, or, if you prefer, start the gonzo tour from its beginning. Dear Music Lover: It’s with pleasure and a touch of sadness that I bring you this final episode of my “How to Tour America Through Her Music” podcast. It’s been a fun ride, and I enjoyed hanging out with you on the magic bus. We had some good times, didn’t we? But the road calls me to other places, and I must move on. Before I go, I want to convey important information about the podcast, the show notes, and the playlist. An Important Notice As you may know, I donate 100% of the proceeds from my solo books and other creative works to charity. The exception is “Far and Wild,” which I co-wrote with Fabiana. These charities include charitywater.org and Doctors Without Borders — plus two new ones: Innocence Project, who “work to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone.” I mentioned this group in Episode 12: The Music of Motown, in which I featured Stevie Wonder’s song “Living for the City” about an innocent Black man wrongly convicted and sentenced to prison. The song exemplifies one I thought I knew until I listened carefully to the words. The second opportunity is a new project led by our dear friends Haji Mohammed Ali and Francesca Micheli, shown below in a photo taken in May, 2025. You will recall that Haji is the African man I lectured (poor guy) about American Blues music in Episode Six: The Blues. Fabi and “Franchy” are old friends, from the days when Fabi lived on Zanzibar, and Haji is like a brother to me. Haji and Franchi built and operate the Sister Island school on the African island of Zanzibar, where they live. Fabi and I visited Zanzibar in 2021, and we were so impressed with their work with the children that we donated to the school. Starting in 2025, Haji and Franchi will start a new service of love on the nearby island of Pemba, where children suffer from a debilitating genetic disease. The team will build a hospital on the island, with doctors and staff specializing in treating the disease. Fabi and I also support that effort financially. Please join us by donating to the Pemba Island Hospital directly via the Sister PayPal. Show Notes and Playlist These ended up being long and wordy, so to not distract you from the audio, I put the show notes in a separate post. After you’ve listened to the final episode (tap the play button above), I encourage you to read through the notes and listen in full to the many fine songs I feature, including ones from Duane Allman, Joni Mitchell, the Neville Brothers, and Paul Simon. As I say in the audio, we just touched the tip of the iceberg in this musical tour of America, with hundreds, nay thousands, of songs waiting to be heard. There is so much more to learn about my country, and the music, as always, speaks volumes. So long, but not goodbye In the audio, I asked some rhetorical questions: What do you stand for? What do you believe in? What are you willing to fight and die for? What is in your soul? As I seek to answer those important questions for myself, I wrote a personal creed I hope to follow as I grow older. I’m sharing it with you here in case you also find it helpful. Stay curious. Keep an open mind. Don’t pre-hate anyone or anything. Listen. Give everyone and everything many chances to prove themselves. Forgive, as Jesus advised, 70 times seven. Love with wild abandon. I know it’s a lot to reach for, but I believe we can do it, especially if we have each other. I’m not saying goodbye — I’ve got plenty of creative endeavors planned for 2025, so stay tuned, and I’ll see you… on the road. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit branthuddleston.substack.com/subscribe

  2. 02/22/2025

    Episode One: A Tour of America Through Her Music

    Hello, Fellow Adventurer and Music Lover! It’s great to have you join me. My name is Brant Huddleston, and I’ll be your host on this 13-part podcast titled “How to Tour America Through Her Music.” I’ll say more about myself at the end of this letter, but first, let me give you the scoop on the podcast. Your adventure starts when you board the Magic Bus. Then hang on! Because we are going to have fun! About the Podcast This podcast will take you on a road trip through America, stopping at various points along the way to hear the music and musicians from that region. Oh yeah, baby! We’ll hear great music from every part of this country, mostly from the 60s and 70s, which is the music I know best. Along the way, we’ll learn how the land shaped the music, and vice versa. The trip will be nothing short of awesome! The best way to learn more about the podcast is to listen to this first episode. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked! To listen to this and every show, please click on the “Play” button found at the top of this post. Every episode also features extensive Show Notes so that you can dive deeper into the music. You’ll normally find those notes behind the paywall, except for today, because there is someone I want you to meet. Woody Guthrie If you happened to see the film “A Complete Unknown” about Bob Dylan’s early years, then you’ve already met one of America’s greatest singer-songwriters: Woody Guthrie. Woody Guthrie is our spirit guide on the Magic Bus, and you’ll learn more about him in this and future episodes. Woody’s name might be familiar to you via his son Arlo Guthrie, star of the counter-culture movie “Alice’s Restaurant.” You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant! Pastures of Plenty Woody Guthrie’s song “Pastures of Plenty” is a motif I use throughout the tour. Here are four versions of the song worth listening to: * Woody Guthrie’s original * Bob Dylan’s cover * A cover by the Irish band Solas * My own version of the song, which I recorded during the COVID time. I recorded my version on the first guitar I ever bought, way back in 1972 when I was first learning to play. If you look carefully, you’ll see “THIS MACHINE KILLS TOTALITARIANISM” on its front — a direct nod to Woody Guthrie Song Lyrics Here are the lyrics I read in the podcast, which I took straight from Woody Guthrie’s original. They are slightly different than the ones I sing in my version of the song. Poetic license, I guess. It’s a mighty hard road that my poor hand has hoed My poor feet has traveled a hot dusty road Out of your Dust Bowl and westward we rolled And your deserts was hot and your mountains was cold I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes Slept on the ground in the light of your moon On the edge of the city you'll see us and then We come with the dust and we go with the wind California, Arizona, I make all your crops Well it's North up to Oregon to gather your hops Dig the beets from your ground, cut the grapes from your vine To set on your table your light sparkling wine Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground From the Grand Coulee Dam where the water run down Every state in the Union us migrants have been We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win Well it's always we rambled, that river and I All along your green valley, I’ll work till I die My land I'll defend with my life if it be Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free Other Music in the Show In addition to versions of “Pastures of Plenty,” I also play a snippet from Bonnie Raitt’s cover of the fabulous Richard Thompson song “Dimming of the Day.” While I don’t know if Thompson’s song pertains to the Great Depression, I felt like the mood of it did, that of a great house “falling down around my ears.” America, so bright and full of promise in the 1920’s, now crashed and struggling to survive. The opening and closing music was written and performed by unknown talented musicians who sacrificed their creation to the license-free beast, probably for pennies — a paltry reward for their effort. The Great Depression I heard about the Great Depression in bits and pieces from my mom, who was born in 1925 and grew up “dirt poor,” as she used to say. Not that she complained, mind you. She didn’t. What I learned, I had a pry out of her. Whining wasn’t in style for that generation. If you are a Ken Burns fan (I am), then you will like his production “Hard Times” about the Great Depression. The Dust Bowl Much of what I learned about the Dust Bowl came from two sources: * The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan * Ken Burns’ documentary The Dust Bowl About Me As my Substack bio says, I am a grandpa with a guitar and an attitude. I am married to the fabulous Fabiana Capuano, a tattooed Italian pirate lady. Those are our smiling faces below. Together, we travel the world and write about what we see. But then, if you’ve been following either one of us, you already know that. Coming Up Next Coming up on the next episode of “How to Tour America Through Her Music,” we’ll visit the Big Apple, learn about Beatniks, meet the enigmatic Bob Dylan, and even go to church. Ready to roll? Let’s go! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit branthuddleston.substack.com/subscribe

  • 2 Episodes

About

Tour the United States of America, learning about the music and musicians from the country's many regions. With the spirit of Woody Guthrie as our guide, we'll discover the roots of America through folk, gospel, bluegrass, R&B, and blues music. We'll migrate to rock and roll, the music that grew alongside, and even sparked, a tidal shift in American culture, politics, and power. It’s all Americana, and it’s all good. branthuddleston.substack.com

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