Host
Camp Dad.
Barry spent almost 37 years with the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a feature/entertainment writer. In that time he has been a reporter, columnist, Entertainment Editor and Associate Features Editor. He has interviewed hundreds of artists and entertainment industry people and fell in love with music all over again on The Farm in Manchester in 2002.
59mWhat makes Bonnaroo worth saving? Is it the music, the people, the traditions, or something you can't quite explain until you've experienced it? With Bonnaroo taking 2027 off and its future beyond that still uncertain, we're joined by our friends from the RooHamm Podcast: Jake, Parker, and Michael, to talk about what makes The Farm so special, and what it would mean to lose it.
36mIs Bluegrass getting younger? We walked the IBMA red carpet in Chattanooga and asked the players who would know: James Kee of East Nash Grass, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Molly Tuttle, and Sierra Hull. The same theme kept coming up: a new generation is stepping in, and the people who came up before them are passing the torch.
55mBilly Strings is reopening the Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga, a 105-year-old landmark that just finished a $75 million restoration. We sat down with Nick Wilkinson of the Tivoli Foundation to find out how it happened, why a city spends that kind of money on a theater, and how the live music business really works.
29mLive from The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee, we recap CaveFest 2026 with our ticket winner, plus the venue, the music, and the camping. Barry and Russ are joined by Bryan, back on the show after a couple of months, our bicoastal correspondent Elizabeth Thorpe, who flew in from Washington State for her third CaveFest, and Abby, the fan who won our ticket giveaway and is at her very first CaveFest! Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube.
46mTwo festival veterans break down Bourbon & Beyond 2026 in Louisville: the crowd, the hotels, the VIP setup, the beer prices, and the weather. Barry and Russ are joined by our senior and junior correspondents, Trevin Bernarding and David Champion, who go to several festivals every year. They review the festival from the gate to the stage, then compare it with the rest of the circuit and look ahead to 2027.
40mHow do you play a mushroom? This week we're joined by Tarun Nayar of Modern Biology, a Vancouver-based musician who uses bioelectric signals from mushrooms, plants, and other living organisms to create music. Using custom-built devices and synthesizers, Tarun translates biological activity into musical information, creating performances that blend science, technology, improvisation, and art.
44mThe rain and heat at Shaky Knees 2026 did not stop Russ from having a good time in Atlanta! We catch up live from the hotel on Saturday morning and then the full recap in this episode: the heat, the lineup, and the Saturday storm and evacuation. Hear about notable performances from Turnstile, Fontaines D.
48mOur bicoastal correspondent Elizabeth Thorpe is back, and this time she's breaking down Bumbershoot, the Seattle festival where music meets DIY art, animation, a fashion district, roller derby, and yes, actual wrestling. Beth walks us through all of Bumbershoot: the lineup (Death Cab for Cutie, Turnstile, De La Soul, Bikini Kill, Orville Peck), what makes a city festival different from a camping one, and the outsider-arts culture that Bumbershoot still preserves, the same DIY spirit that gave rise to grunge.
34mBonnaroo may be taking 2027 off, but festival season isn't over. This week Barry and Russ break down the two festivals they're hitting this fall, Shaky Knees in Atlanta and CaveFest at The Caverns, and share their tips for doing each one right. One's a city festival, one's a camping festival, and they're very different experiences.
46mNo Bonnaroo in 2027? Here's how to figure out where to go instead. With Bonnaroo taking a fallow year, a lot of us are asking the same question: what festival do we go to now? So we brought in long-time friend of the show Liesl (@rockstarsweat), a festival superfan who's been to Bonnaroo, Pickathon, Glastonbury, Solid Sound and just about everywhere in between, to talk through how she actually chooses which festivals to attend.
1h 15mBonnaroo is taking 2027 off, and we wanted to dig into what's next. This week we're joined by David Bruce (I Am Bonnaroo) and Ryan French, a Manchester city councilman and tourism official with a front-row seat to what a fallow year actually means for the town Bonnaroo calls home. We get into the economic ripple through Manchester, why Bonnaroo is the "bell cow" for festivals far beyond itself, what a year off does to the local businesses and community that depend on it, and why our guests are hopeful about 2028 and beyond.
22mWe officially have confirmation on Bonnaroo's 2027 cancellation. We got together to share our initial reaction, and Barry literally pulled over on the side of the road to record this. As far as The What Podcast goes, we're still here every week and we'll have a deeper dive into this news next week. Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube.
