Mike Luster

If you love American music, and by that we mean country, western, blues, jazz, honky-tonk, singer-songwriters, and much more, then you need to listen to AmericanaRama at 90.3 in Monroe, Louisiana, Saturday night from 9 to 11pm.

And if you don't happen to live in Louisiana, (good news!) you can click this link to hear the show online at the KEDM Public Radio website.

AmericanaRama has been getting a lot of attention lately. It seems audiences are yearning for music outside of the top forty, record industry dictated playlist, and, what's more, it seems audiences are craving the music of their roots: a rich blend of Americana. So we sat down to talk to the host, Mike Luster, about himself and about his popular radio program.

When did you first get interested in radio?

In 1960, I got my first radio hotwired with a drive-in movie speaker. I spent my nights listening to the radio legends of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, Coyote, Jimmy Rabbitt, Russ "Weird Beard" Knight.

What was your first job in radio?

In college, I actually managed to get on the radio, most memorably with a show called "Wounded in the Stones."

What have you been doing since college?

I got a Ph.D. in folklore, and I've worked as a museum specialist, a bookseller, a film consultant, and, most recently, as the director of the Louisiana Folklife Festival.

How long has AmericanaRama been on the air?

Four years. It grew out of my other show Creole Statement which went on the air six years ago.

What first gave you the idea for AR?

I'm a folklorist by training. When I came to Louisiana to direct the Louisiana Folklife Festival, I looked for ways to increase awareness of the festival and vernacular culture in general. That became the basis of the Louisiana-based show Creole Statement. After two years, I realized there was a gap between the music I actually listened too and the music I played. It also seemed ironic to be living in an area (north Louisiana, the South, America) with such a rich history of country music--and locally three commercial country stations that all played an incredibly limited palette of really pretty lame music just because it was current and being pushed by some commercial interest rather than because it was good or important or something that someone wanted to hear.

What is the mission of AR?

To create a two-hour aural landscape that weaves together newer and older songs from primarily country music-based traditions. It also serves on a personal level as a sort of audio scrapbook of the music of the moment as filtered through one's life.

Do you think of yourself as an educator? Do you hope to teach something? To educate your audience? To enrich them?

I do think of myself as an educator, but in the most non-didactic way. The show has evolved. I used to play a couple of songs and then come on and point out the connections, show off my knowledge. I got over that and now say very little. I play very long sets, typically nine or ten songs, and then back announce with, at most, a phrase of transition. I think the music is eloquent enough.

What are some of the most popular songs on your playlist or do you try not to repeat music?

The show moves through time. I may draw heavily on a song or an album for as long as a year before it falls away. Most things are not that strong. An example, I played songs from Steve Earle's Transcendental Blues for a good long while. I'm not currently using it as I've finally grown tired of it but should something come along that calls it to mind--musically, thematically, biographically--then I'll pull it back out. I'm an idiosyncratic person playing idiosyncratic music. I have my personal favorites: Earle, Ron Sexsmith, Townes Van Zandt, John Hiatt, Buddy and Julie Miller, Kate Campbell, Bob Dylan. These all appear pretty regularly.

What are the criteria used to select music?

That it seems to fit the format and that I like it enough to want to play it at least once. I get service from several labels, but I only play it if it works for me. I follow no charts, and I'm as likely to drop in a cut from Al Green or Samuel Barber or Miles Davis if it seems warranted. The show is country music, but that's a broad concept in my mind.

Are you filling a void? Do you see some sort of need?

Certainly I am locally, but through the internet broadcasts I've picked up listeners around the country who love this loosely construed category of music we've come to call Americana. This audience doesn't want to see the show become just another chart and promotion driven format. I think people enjoy the old sense of one person taking responsibility for the playlist and selecting music for one show and one night.

What music is emerging? Are you seeing any new styles?

The music I play is largely personal music grounded in some way in tradition. That can go in a number of ways. People like Beck, Moby,Tom Waits, Joe Henry, Jim White are working to find exciting new sounds that extend the music. Others like Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer are extending their music into the tradition of classical composition and performance. There's also, of course, the counter trend where many are also looking to rediscover earlier traditions in vernacular music. We push forward, look backward, and try to express the moment of our existence. I'm sure Hank done it thataway.

Are you a preservationist? Do you see yourself as preserving something for future generations?

No. Not in this work. I'm more of a conservationist. I want to use the cultural materials to create something for the needs of the moment. Some of those materials are new, some older, some from other traditions, but they all seem to resonate in the now. Sure, I think Ray Charles's Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music is a wonderful collection and speaks volumes, but I don't want to separate its historical importance from its listenability and its resonance for me personally. I find the same quality in Buddy Miller singing "Rock Salt and Nails" or Lucinda Williams's "Blue."

What is the future of AmericanaRama?

I think it will continue to evolve. I think the web will continue to reshape radio (if we can still call it that) permitting more personal and localized voices and ears as a counterbalance to homogeneity.

What other voices are working to "counterbalance" the "homogeneity"?

Nick Spitzer's American Routes and Erika Brady up in Bowling Green, Kentucky--the music is out there and people are making it happen and available.

October 2001