Hold On

This is a story about a song. Six years ago, seventeen-year-old Finn Rooney killed himself in his home in Walden, Vermont. A couple days later, his community held a bonfire in the parking lot of Hazen Union High school in Hardwick. Hundreds of people came. Tom Gilbert, who organized the bonfire, asked his friend Heidi Wilson to write a song for the occasion. The song was called Hold On. She made sure it was a song everyone could sing. And they did. Now people are singing this song all over the world. People in Minneapolis have been singing it to ICE agents. They’re singing it for their neighbors who are afraid to leave their houses. They’re singing it in Wales and Australia and Iralend in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. Peole are singing it all over, to give each other some comfort and some courage. This is a story about where that song came from and where it’s gone.

You can listen to Hold On online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Hold On is an episode from Rumble Strip by Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip.

This episode is 00:16:33 long.

This episode was published on Mar 6, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Rumble Strip when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.