Roots music with memory and muscle.
The String gives musicians room to trace how records, scenes, mentors, and formative moments shaped their work. Its center of gravity is Nashville and American roots music, but the conversations move easily through jazz, gospel, folk, country, bluegrass, and songwriter traditions.
PRESS PLAY
The String is a long-form roots-music program about how American songs get made, carried, revised, and remembered. Its interviews give musicians enough space to explain not just what they recorded, but what they absorbed before they had language for it. Bluegrass runs through many episodes, but the show’s reach is wider than a single lane. The Infamous Stringdusters episode follows a band that learned to honor bluegrass heritage while bringing in jam-band openness and original writing. The Trey Hensley conversation looks at prodigy pressure, mentors such as Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stewart, and the strange momentum that follows an early Grand Ole Opry dream. The Emily Scott Robinson episode turns toward character writing, Nancy Griffith’s influence, and the leap from social work and song school into a serious career. David Wilcox brings the show into the handmade acoustic revival of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Rachael & Vilray open a path through jazz obsession, Lake Street Dive, New England Conservatory history, and the romance of old forms finding new voices. Cody Jinks anchors a discussion of independent country success outside radio’s usual machinery. Mike Farris brings gospel, soul, Nashville players, the McCrary sisters, and Muscle Shoals into the frame. The show’s strength is connective tissue. It hears records as part of communities, family habits, regional scenes, and private obsessions. It is calm but not flat. The questions have an archival patience, while the music keeps the hour from becoming purely academic. Listeners hear names, places, albums, bands, labels, and stages recur as part of a larger map of American roots culture. The tone can become sober when a life story demands it, especially in the remembrance of Justin Townes Earle. Even then, the focus stays on songs, memory, friendship, and consequence. The String is for people who care how influence travels: from gospel tents to Americana stages, from jazz records to vocal phrasing, from family living rooms to professional touring. It rewards close listening.
Made for: For listeners who follow Americana, bluegrass, folk, country, gospel, jazz-influenced pop, and songwriter craft with curiosity. It especially suits people who like artist interviews grounded in scenes, records, mentors, and musical choices.
What sets it apart: The String gives roots musicians unusually patient, historically literate conversations, then lets the music itself carry part of the argument. It connects craft, biography, and American music lineage without reducing artists to promotion cycles.
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.
Craig Havighurst gets past the marquee name until you hear how a musical life was actually built.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Craig Havighurst traces the Stringdusters' sound through early Nashville ties, bluegrass rhythm, and shared vocals.
Craig Havighurst has known the Infamous Stringdusters since their early days. He remembers a rehearsal near Nashville, their first lineup at South by Southwest as a record deal took shape, and the band's 2007 IBMA Awards night.
Vilray's teenage jazz listening gives his reunion with Rachel Price a backstory.
Rachel Price and Vilray's reunion has a long musical lead-in. Price talks about her voice through Lake Street Dive and her early wish to sing traditional jazz. Vilray recalls the records that held his attention as a teenager.
A Nashville bass player recalls the work, tours and decisions behind his focus on bass.
A Nashville bass player's working life gives this conversation its shape. He remembers wanting to play music from a young age, then finding steady work at the Castle, where he engineered, programmed and produced between tours.
Small dilemmas, big morning energy.
Raw artist talk before the next record breaks.
Country artists, loose talk, real backstories.
Country radio, callers, and station-life side roads.
Country music from the room where it happens.
A podcast episode introducing the band Southern Avenue and their new album 'Family', set against the rich musical history of Memphis.
A profile of Americana musician Rosie Flores, covering her 50-year career, recent honors, and new album.
An introduction to singer-songwriter Cody Jinks, highlighting his rise as an independent outlaw country artist without radio support, with insights from music journalist Kyle Coroneros.
A reflection on the journey of discovering black gospel music and the career of Mike Farris, from his early influences to his recent secular album recorded in Muscle Shoals.
A celebration of Robert's Western World, a legendary Nashville honky-tonk, featuring a block party with performances by notable country and bluegrass artists.
Byron House traces a career that runs from Bowling Green and Western Kentucky to Nashville sessions with Robert Plant, Johnny Cash, and the Dixie Chicks.
A journalist reflects on the 20-year career of the Infamous Stringdusters, drawing from personal experiences and a documentary film.
This episode explores the journey of bluegrass prodigy Trey Hensley, comparing his path to other young country stars like Ricky Skaggs and Leanne Rimes, and highlighting his early Grand Ole Opry debut.
An introduction to singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson, her musical influences, and her new album 'Appalachia'.
A tribute to singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, detailing his death from a fentanyl-laced cocaine overdose and reflecting on his life, struggles, and musical legacy.
A reflection on the New Folk Movement of the late 80s and early 90s, focusing on singer-songwriter David Wilcox and his career.
Rachel Price and Vilry use The String to unpack West of Broadway, the duo album built around old jazz forms, close harmony, and songs like "Forever Never Lasts" and "Closer." Craig Havikhurst ties that music to Rachel's Hendersonville childhood, her Baha'i family, and her early obsession with Ella Fitzgerald records.