The Roots FM - Free Form Radio

12/10/2025

12/08/2025

Join Jim Bruce in a celebration of one of the greatest rock 'n' soul guitarists the world's ever seen...The music of Steve Cropper is featured on this week's edition of Higher Ground, only on The Roots FM. Tune in Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m. or stream it anytime at www.therootsfm.org

12/04/2025

11/30/2025

“There’s a particular moment that Phish fans wait for,” Amanda Petrusich writes. “It doesn’t happen at every show, and it’s difficult to describe without sounding as though you’ve been a whiff too cavalier with your dosing, but here goes: there is sometimes a brief yet transcendent stretch, occurring maybe 10 or 12 or even 20 minutes into a jam, in which the band achieves a kind of otherworldly synchronicity, both internally and with its audience. This kind of moment, though mysterious, has been an essential and meaningful part of the band’s gestalt since the beginning.” She felt it herself at a recent festival—“a short but delightful vacation from my corporeal self.”

“Achieving this sort of dissociative bliss is not uncommon when listening to Hindu bhajans or Gregorian chants or other forms of religious music,” Petrusich notes. “I bring this up simply to say that it’s extraordinary that this sort of thing—a fleeting doorway to nirvana—is regularly occurring for Phish fans in minor-league-hockey arenas.”

But how does it happen? “I throw out a melodic phrase, something we can all jump on. That leads to another spontaneous key change, which can only happen if we’re all fully listening. And then the universe opens up, and I feel like I don’t exist,” Trey Anastasio, the band’s singer and guitarist, said. “I’m not locked in my mind anymore. I feel entirely connected to the people way back on the lawn. I can sense the scale, how insignificant the venue looks from above, how minuscule we are in the grand scheme. I don’t understand any of it—it feels like being pulled by the music like a water-skier. It’s a miracle, this moment. But it’s ephemeral—it can’t last. And slowly, around 12 or 13 minutes, it goes back down to earth. But I’ve gotten to peek behind the curtain for just a moment.” Read Petrusich’s profile of the singular American band: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/pgtg1i

11/28/2025

11/26/2025

Wednesday on an all-new episode of Altered Roots! We'll be checking out some of the very best in contemporary bluegrass, and as always, diving headfirst into the worlds of indie and alternative music.
📻🎶

Not only that.. but we'll be debuting the brand new Barnum Jack single, Mountain Magic! ⛰️✨️

All that and more tomorrow night 6-8 on The Roots FM!