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PODCAST

The String

WMOT/Roots Radio 89.5 FM

The String is weekly think radio featuring conversations and features on culture, media and American music - anchored by veteran journalist and broadcaster Craig Havighurst. Music makers, enablers, instigators and documentarians are featured with enough time to go deep and burrow into issues, while letting the music play too. Music news, previews, Time Machine Tape and 90 Second Spins round out the hour.

arts performing arts

All Episodes

58:56

Peter One

The String ·

2023/07/28

Episode 252: The story of Peter One is as warming as his music. As a young man in his native Côte d’Ivoire, he latched on to folk and country music more than most of his peers, until he met collaborator Jess Sah Bi, with whom he formed a celebrated, socially conscious duo in West Africa. Both had to leave the country due to political turmoil, and Peter One started over in the US, first in Delaware then in Nashville where he moved for a career in nursing. A rediscovery and reissue of his best African

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58:58

Fruit Bats and Cat Clyde

The String ·

2023/07/15

Episode 250: Craig contemplates genre-bending while introducing two guests this week who straddle the seemingly disparate worlds of indie rock and folk music. Eric D. Johnson is the veteran mastermind of the long running collective Fruit Bats. Raised in Chicago and based in Los Angeles, he came up with his friends in The Shins and Modest Mouse. Over time, his Fruit Bats project refined an esthetic all its own. The latest is A River Running To Your Heart. Meanwhile, in Canada, young songwriter Cat

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58:49

Pete Anderson

The String ·

2023/06/22

Episode 249: One key reason that Dwight Yoakam exploded into country music consciousness in 1986 was the electric guitar and electrifying record production of his friend and bandmate Pete Anderson. Anderson moved from his native Detroit to Los Angeles and found himself in a powerful partnership that changed the sound of country and sold around 25 million records. After more than 15 years, Anderson pursued his own interests, including a bluesier side of his guitar and record production in his own

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01:00:08

Robbie Fulks

The String ·

2023/06/07

Episode 248: For all of the sardonic honky tonk music of his early albums and the more character-driven folk music on albums like Upland Stories and Gone Away Backward, Robbie Fulks can trace a strong bluegrass thread through his career. He grew up loving Doc Watson in North Carolina, picked up the banjo and flatpicked guitar as a kid, and joined the venerable bluegrass band Special Consensus as he established himself in the Chicago music scene. He’d touch on the genre here and there, but now he’s

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58:51

Layng Martine Jr.

The String ·

2023/06/02

Episode 247: Layng Martine Jr. earned a slot in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame with numerous hits for a range of artists that included Reba McEntire, The Pointer Sisters and Elvis himself. He thought he was retired, but when his son Tucker, one of the most respected producers and recording engineers in indie music, gave his father the studio time and resources to make his first real album as an artist as he approached 80 years old, a series of sessions in Portland, OR became Music Man. It's

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58:51

Alison Brown

The String ·

2023/05/23

Episode 246: Alison Brown found her life's work early when she started playing banjo as a pre-teen growing up in southern California. But it took some time and real life experience - a Harvard degree, another MBA and a couple of years in banking - before she finally gave herself permission to chase a music career. She toured with Alison Krauss in her early days and then formed her own bands, earning her rep as an innovative, jazz-oriented virtuoso player. She's released about a dozen albums of her

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58:56

Dom Flemons

The String ·

2023/05/17

Episode 245: Dom Flemons made history founding the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time band that changed the face of roots music in the 21st century. Through found songs and tunes learned at the feet of old masters, they won a Grammy Award, played the Grand Ole Opry and opened up new lanes for Black musicians finding their voice in folk. Since parting ways in 2013, Flemons has been a lynchpin of the folk music scene, an “American songster” who plays a wide range of instruments and who puts on

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58:56

William Prince plus Erik Vincent Huey

The String ·

2023/05/03

Episode 244: William Prince grew up on country and gospel music in rural Manitoba on the Peguis First Nation reserve, getting a grounding from his minister/musician father. Now Prince is a musical minister of sorts, making a strong mark on north American folk music with his sincerity, gravitas and beautiful baritone voice. His formal debut won Canada's JUNO Award for best contemporary folk album, and his twin releases in 2020 were well attuned to the spiritual yearning of the pandemic lockdown. Now

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57:54

Whitehorse

The String ·

2023/04/26

Episode 243: Canada’s coolest couple - more than 12 years into their joint venture called Whitehorse - is on a creative tear, releasing three albums in two years, all of which came with a portfolio of daring and whimsical graphic design, photography and video. The albums flow, from the zesty indie-rock leaning Modern Love in March 2021 to the psychedelic wonder whirl of Strike Me Down, which arrived six months later. Then in January of this year came I’m Not Crying You’re Crying, the most overtly

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58:54

Big Ears 2023

The String ·

2023/04/18

Episode 242: Craig reports from Knoxville, TN and the tenth edition of the world-renowned Big Ears Festival. Conceived by Knoxville native Ashley Capps as a showcase for modern and avant-garde music, it’s broadened to encompass just about every genre and concept from around the world. This year saw a record number of folk/roots/Americana artists, playing alongside some of the world’s elite jazz, electronic and experimental creators. Craig offers a history of the festival, thoughts from Ashley Capps

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57:54

Miko Marks

The String ·

2023/04/11

Episode 241: San Francisco-based Miko Marks hit brick walls when she made her first run at country music in the mid 2000s, when the industry was systemically impenetrable to independent artists and even more so artists of color. After taking more than a decade away from her passion, Marks was inspired to reconnect with her band and producers, and this time, she found a lane, made possible by excellent music. She's released three recordings in two years, each more interesting than the last,

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58:57

Emily Nenni plus Stephanie Clifford

The String ·

2023/03/28

Episode 240: Emily Nenni didn't fall in love with country music and then move to Nashville. She did the reverse, using the city's honky tonks and local haunts like country music college. And instead of the lure of the CMA Awards, the Bay Area native dove fully into the traditional end of the pool. Her sparky voice and detail-rich songs grabbed the attention of New West Records, which released her breakout album On The Ranch late last year. Also in the hour, a talk with New York writer Stephanie

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58:47

Sunny Sweeney

The String ·

2023/03/22

Episode 239: She sounds like she was born into a country music family, but Sunny Sweeney was actually a late and somewhat reluctant bloomer as an artist. Her friends had to beg her to record her first album when she was playing bars in Austin. But that album got picked up by a Nashville label and got her to the Grand Ole Opry. The major label system was a bad fit, but Sunny has pursued an exemplary indie career in the years since. Her mix of smarts, sass and lonesome blues infuses her latest album

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59:34

Larissa Maestro

The String ·

2023/03/16

Episode 238: Cellist and composer Larissa Maestro enjoys a rich and diverse career as a Nashville session and stage musician. When she came to town in 2007, she had a music degree and flexible expectations about what she'd find in a place she'd never been. Now she's a veteran of creative collaborations with Margo Price, John Legend, Brandi Carlile and Allison Russell, who's just had Maestro arrange the strings for her next album. In 2022, she was named Americana Instrumentalist of the Year. Maestro

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58:29

Ron Sexsmith

The String ·

2023/03/07

Episode 237: Ron Sexsmith's brilliant solo debut album of 1995 - the one with the song "Secret Heart" - was on the verge of being overlooked and forgotten when Elvis Costello endorsed it as one of his favorite projects in a major magazine. It changed the conversation about the young balladeer and he was quickly recognized as one of Canada's finest songwriters. Now a dozen great artists have covered "Secret Heart" and Ron is 17 albums in to a rewarding and esteemed career. We talk about those tenuous

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58:51

Joe Henry

The String ·

2023/02/23

Episode 236: It would be difficult to name one musician with such long and distinguished resumes as both a recording artist and a record producer as Joe Henry. Since emerging around 1990 as a layered, visionary songwriter, he's released 17 albums to almost universal acclaim. And since his tutelage under T Bone Burnett, stemming from one of his early albums, he's been an in-demand producer with credits on Amy Helm, Bonnie Raitt, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and many more. I spoke with Joe by Zoom

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58:45

Charles "Wigg" Walker

The String ·

2023/02/15

Episode 235: After a remarkable life in show business and soul music, Charles "Wigg" Walker moved back to his native Nashville in the 90s, and he's been an important fixture in Music City ever since, a one-of-a-kind voice in soul and blues. It started on Jefferson Street in his teens. Then he moved to New York, opened shows for James Brown, played the Apollo Theater and held down Harlem residencies. He lived overseas in the post disco era. And he's recorded all the way through, including some great

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59:10

Sunny War

The String ·

2023/02/09

Episode 234: Not very long ago, Sunny War was busking on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, nearly homeless and beset with substance abuse. But she was also making weirdly beautiful and honest music that evoked country blues, punk rock and old folk songs without being really any of the above. Now she's moved to Nashville, signed to New West Records, with one of the most talked-about albums in indie music. Raves have poured in for her new record Anarchist Gospel, which has an atmosphere all its own and

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58:57

Madison Cunningham plus Jason Carter

The String ·

2023/01/31

Episode 233: Madison Cunningham blasted on to the modern folk scene in 2019 with a debut album so thoughtful and original that it landed on the prestigious Verve Forecast label and was nominated for a Grammy Americana Album award. After the pandemic interrupted her career momentum, she picked right back up in 2022 with a fast-growing audience and a brilliant sophomore album called Revealer. Just home from her final overseas tour of last year, Madison joined me by Zoom for a conversation about her

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58:45

Willi Carlisle

The String ·

2023/01/24

Episode 232: Willi Carlisle is a folk singer in the populist tradition of Utah Phillips and Woody Guthrie, a boisterous, tender, funny performer who is impossible to forget. After years pursuing various outlets in old-time, poetry and theater, he emerged in 2022 as one of the finest songwriters in traditional folk music. The vehicle was his album Peculiar, Missouri, a varied collection of ruminations and character studies from Free Dirt Records. Willi is a remarkable raconteur and rhetorician, so

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