New podcast dives deep into Bonnaroo acts

FILE - In this June 13, 2014 file photo, festival-goers enter through the arch during Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Concert promoter and ticket seller Live Nation on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 said that it bought a controlling stake in the annual music festival. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, Adam Lau, File)
FILE - In this June 13, 2014 file photo, festival-goers enter through the arch during Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. Concert promoter and ticket seller Live Nation on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 said that it bought a controlling stake in the annual music festival. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, Adam Lau, File)

Curious about what the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival just up the road in Manchester, Tenn., is all about? Ever wonder why Rolling Stone magazine called the four-day event one of the "50 Moments That Changed Rock & Roll." Never heard of the acts on the bill?

A new weekly podcast hosted by Times Free Press entertainment writer Barry Courter and Hits 96 on-air personality Brad Steiner is now available to help answer some of those questions. New episodes of The What Podcast: Which Bands That Matter This Year will be released each Sunday until the festival begins June 7.

The two co-hosts have attended more than two dozen Bonnaroo festivals between them since it was introduced in 2002. They take a deeper look at some of the artists who will be playing this year as well as how the festival has evolved since the first one when more than 80,000 people descended on the 700-acre farm in the middle of the state.

"We've watched it evolve from a strictly camping experience in tents in open fields to the wide array of VIP experiences that are now available," Steiner said. "Barry and I have experienced it all in our years at Roo.

"They now have running water and toilets that flush. It's been pretty remarkable, but at the end of the day, it's about the music, and we take a deep dive into the artists that are playing Bonnaroo this year. We also have a pair of tickets, with camping, to give away."

Four episodes are currently available. The fifth, which looks at some of the acts playing their first Roo, including an interview with Bazzi, will be available this afternoon. Previously released podcasts focus on 2018 festival performers Anderson .Paak and Sturgill Simpson and interviews with co-founder Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment and David Shaw and Rob Igraham of The Revivalists.

The podcast draws its name from the iconic What, Which, This and That stage names at Bonnaroo.

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