Bonnaroo Radio Takeover ft. Noah Kahan, String Cheese Incident & More

The What Podcast took over Bonnaroo Radio in 2026! We present a two-hour special that aired during the festival, bringing together Noah Kahan, RÜFÜS DU SOL, String Cheese Incident's Kyle Hollingsworth, and the people who built and shaped Bonnaroo. Produced and packaged by Bryan Stone, and now collected here in full.

Spanning six years of interviews from 2019 through 2025, it's a cross-section of the show's history and how it's evolved — from Noah Kahan on songwriting to the origin story of how Bonnaroo launched, a conversation about sobriety at the festival, the wild backstory of Dancing Man Chris, and Kyle Hollingsworth on String Cheese Incident and his new solo record. Originally aired on Bonnaroo Radio, WFTZ 101.5 FM The Rooster.

Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube. As always, subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get podcasts for weekly updates on Bonnaroo and festival news!

______

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:00:34) Noah Kahan on songwriting as therapy

(00:11:14) RÜFÜS DU SOL on how the pandemic rebuilt the band

(00:20:32) Tim "Tuba" Smith on running the festival & the Squarch saga

(00:48:33) Ken Weinstein tells Bonnaroo's origin story

(01:00:17) Patrick Whelan on Soberoo and finding support

(01:20:18) The surprising story behind Chris "The Dancing Man"

(01:39:45) Kyle Hollingsworth on String Cheese Incident and wild artist collabs

(01:59:18) Outro

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Noah Kahan on Mental Health and Allowing Himself to Be Honest

Trading Whiskey Shots for Ginger Shots: RÜFÜS DU SOL Joins The What Podcast

Bonnaroo's Infamous "Squarch": The Full Story with Tim "Tuba" Smith

Ken Weinstein

Mapping Out the Highlights and Conflicts of the Bonnaroo 2024 Schedule

Lord Taco's Bonnaroo 2025 Picks and an Encounter with "The Dancing Man"

Kyle Hollingsworth Interview: String Cheese Incident, New Music & Craft Beer

______

🎧 LISTEN LINKS
Website: https://thewhatpodcast.com
Spotify: https://thewhat.co/spotify
Apple Podcasts: https://thewhat.co/applepodcasts
YouTube Music: https://thewhat.co/youtubemusic
Amazon Music: https://thewhat.co/amazonmusic

📱 SOCIAL LINKS
Discord: https://discord.gg/zShHTeCYGn
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewhatpodcast
X: https://x.com/thewhat_podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewhatpodcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewhatpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thewhatpodcast
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thewhat.co
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thewhatpodcast

The What Podcast theme: "Aquarius" by *repeat repeat, used with permission.
Other music provided by Midist and used with permission.

We love to hear from you! Send us an email at comments@thewhatpodcast.com or call (423) 667-7877 and leave us a voicemail. We might just feature it on the show.