Vinyl Emergency
Musicians, record label owners, visual artists and beyond describe how vinyl records have shaped their lives and careers. Previous guests include Hozier, Rosanne Cash, Ben Gibbard, Adam Duritz, Lisa Loeb and members of Run-DMC, Foo Fighters, R.E.M. and more.
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Average duration
- 75 minutes
- Episodes
- 250
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Episode 208: LIVE! with Craig Finn of The Hold Steady
Bruce Springsteen once said that the secret to good songwriting was striking a balance between the personal and the universal: Get specific with people and locations first before shading in the rest …
Episode 207: Superdrag's John Davis
Between his father's banjo picking and his mother's love of Motown, Superdrag's John Davis eventually began writing tunes that would channel Stax's classic soul and Big Star-adjacent power-pop throug…
Episode 206: DC Glenn of Tag Team ("Whoomp! There It Is")
SECOND SPIN: Amythyst Kiah (January 2022)
This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in January 2022.
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Championed by some today’s biggest names on the fringes of country music, singer/songwriter Amythyst Kiah …
Episode 205: Smoking Popes
It’s not out of bounds to say that the Smoking Popes began as a bit of a joke. Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Josh Caterer deems the earliest incarnation of the band as “a Spinal Tap version of h…
Episode 204: The Get Up Kids' Rob Pope & Jim Suptic
Today's guests are more than just bandmates. Friends since the first grade -- with matching tattoos to boot -- being founding members of the influential Kansas collective The Get Up Kids has taken Ro…
Episode 203: Matthew Caws of Nada Surf
Not everyone can say that both their first and last jobs were behind the counter of a record store. But that's how things ended up for Matthew Caws, before his beloved power-pop act Nada Surf became …
Episode 202: Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell
A love affair with records has fueled Tracyanne Campbell for as long as she can remember: Before anyone else woke up in the morning as a kid, she'd already be spinning ELO; thanks to her grandmother,…
Episode 201: John Moreland
Early in his career, John Moreland says he existed in a state of what he dubs "under-being": Living in perpetual humility to a fault, believing he wasn't deserving of appreciation for his art, let al…
Episode 200: Fran Healy of Travis
“Our old manager was always saying to me, ‘Artwork’s not really that important. No one cares.’ That’s why he’s our old manager.” That bit from this week’s 200th episode, with Travis' Fran Healy, spea…
SECOND SPIN: Vance Powell (Engineer for Jack White, Chris Stapleton; September 2020)
This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in September 2020.
4x Grammy-winning producer, engineer and mixer Vance Powell has worked with a wide range of artists and band…
Episode 199: They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh
While most music-focused kids picked up guitars or drums in the 60's and 70's, John Flansburgh says he was pulled toward the machinery that made art possible. With a reel-to-reel in hand before age 1…
Episode 198: Strand of Oaks (Returns!)
"I don't have stage fright, I have life fright." Indiana native Timothy Showalter -- the mind and voice behind the moniker Strand of Oaks -- has pulled no punches when it comes to combatting his own …
Episode 197: John Roderick of The Long Winters
Episode 196: Dave Holmes (MTV / Esquire)
Esquire editor-at-large and former MTV VJ Dave Holmes discusses how his ADHD allowed him to embrace the chaos of live television, why hitting up a NYC vinyl listening bar with The Mandalorian didn't …
How Vinyl Keeps Music History Spinning (Looped In: Chicago)
Hello! For my day job, I host and produce Looped In: Chicago, a podcast for WBBM Newsradio. And this week, they allowed me to make an episode all about the city's ties, past and present, to the recor…
SECOND SPIN: Derry deBorja (December 2020)
This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in December 2020.
On today's show, keyboardist Derry deBorja (of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) talks about the musical influe…
Episode 195: Ruston Kelly (Returns!)
Since his last visit to Vinyl Emergency in August 2020, Nashville singer/songwriter Ruston Kelly has narrowly escaped a fiery bus explosion, sold off nearly every physical stage piece from his last t…
Episode 194: Chris Rosenau (Volcano Choir / Pele)