Vinyl Emergency

Hot on the heels of I Built You A Tower — Death Cab for Cutie's 11th album, released earlier this month — bassist and founding member Nick Harmer tells us why this LP is the band's loudest in a long time. Plus, a deep dive into his personal record-hunting habits, how the group culled through nearly 100 demos to shape this release, and pinpointing the connecting tissue between Tower's themes of grief, apathy and change. Tour dates, socials and more are available at deathcabforcutie.com.

Having already penned much-heralded books on both John Prine and Jason Molina, author Erin Osman is now tackling the wide genre of heartland rock — which she defines more by a spiritual and ideological geography, rather than a literal one. And while Bob Seger, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and John Mellancamp round out the Mount Rushmore of sorts for this soundtrack of working class 80's middle-America, Osmon casts a needed spotlight on the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Tracy Chapman, Lucinda Williams and Bruce Hornsby within the pages of 'Won't Back Down,' available now wherever you get literature. On this week's show, Osman expands upon the relationship between art and province, and why the subject matter of 'Won't Back Down' stretches across generations. Plus, details on her current role on the editorial staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville, and how her two decades as a music journalist have led her there. Visit erinosmon.com for more info, past works and a killer playlist of tunes featured in 'Won't Back Down.' Music on this episode is from The Pretty Flowers, available digitally or on vinyl at theprettyflowers.bandcamp.com or forgeagainrecords.bandcamp.com.

If you were tasked with making a feature film about Bruce Springsteen, you could throw a dart and hit any number of career peaks worth covering. Instead, director/writer Scott Cooper chose to zoom in on the Boss' personal low, chronicled by author Warren Zanes in his acclaimed 2023 book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. With unbounded access to his subject, Warren's meticulous and poetic account of what he calls "the ultimate underdog of all recordings" is now the basis for 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,' coming to theaters everywhere this Friday, October 24th. Also an executive producer on the film, Warren walks us through the journey from book to script to cineplex, as well as the film's granular attention to the smallest of details, and an emotional, full-circle moment he experienced after the film's first public screening. Plus, the brilliant casting choices of Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, as Springsteen and his longtime manager Jon Landau. Deliver Me From Nowhere is available, with an updated, movie tie-in cover, wherever you get literature. Follow @warrenzanes on Instagram, and find his 2024 PBS special, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska: A Celebration in Words and Music (featuring Noah Kahan, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, The Lumineers and more), at pbs.org. Music throughout today's episode is from Joelton Mayfield's new LP, Crowdpleaser, also out this Friday, October 24th on Bloodshot Records. Visit joeltonmayfield.com for tour dates, social media, pre-order info and more. NOTE: Further context on Warren Zanes' book Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is available from his previous interview on Episode 187 of Vinyl Emergency.

Before his profile as a musician exploded, actor Noah Reid thought of his songs as "a little closet that I could put my thoughts and feelings into." But in early 2018, that door came off its hinges. As his character Patrick Brewer, on the eventual Emmy-winning Canadian TV comedy Schitt's Creek, Noah performed a remarkably grounded and unfeigned acoustic cover of "The Best," usually known as a reach-for-the-rafters power ballad, made popular in the late 80's by the incomparable Tina Turner. TV Guide went as far as to say that Noah's contribution created "the most romantic scene on television," and the mania around Noah's take on the tune only grew larger once Schitt's Creek came to Netflix. On the cusp an upcoming tour, he checks in this week to discuss the horror story of his first vinyl pressing, the surreal "cosmic needle drops" of his Amazon Prime series Outer Range and the many ways he treasures music's imperfections. Tour dates, merch, social media and more are available at http://noahreid.com.

This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in 2016. --- Currently a writer on CBS' Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Brian Stack started on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1997, winning an Emmy for writing on the show ten years later and appearing as the caped and mustachioed Interrupter, hapless door-to-door salesman Hannigan and the ghost of old-time radio crooner Artie Kendall, among a slew of other characters. He followed Conan to both his truncated tenure at The Tonight Show and his current TBS program, but moved with his family back to New York and joined the Colbert staff in September of 2015. Having also made appearances on 30Rock, The Office, New Girl and Parks & Recreation, Brian talks today about his love for The Replacements, what vinyl box set he recently bought despite no longer owning a turntable, and yes... what it's like to open for Slipknot. Follow @brianstack153__ on Instagram.

Vinyl Emergency is where your favorite songwriters, producers, record label owners or other personalities who just love music come to discuss how vinyl's mere existence has shaped their lives and careers.

A vocal advocate for artist rights and a senior lecturer on all things music business at the University of Georgia, David Lowery discusses today the recent losses of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, learning accounting while on tour, and how Camper Van Beethoven expanded their legend through record store performances. David's latest release -- a 3LP set titled Fathers, Sons and Brothers -- is available now. Tour dates for all of David's projects are available at davidlowerymusic.com, crackersoul.com and campervanbeethoven.com. Also, check out thehiddenjams.org, in beta testing, as David and a group of current and former students attempt to upset the recorded music algorithm.

This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in April 2021. Wild and Clear and Blue, Sara's latest album as a member of I'm With Her, was released on May 9th. --- Over the last twenty-five years with acclaimed acts like Nickel Creek, I'm With Her and Watkins Family Hour (as well as her own solo material), Sara Watkins has become one of the most prolific musicians in folk and bluegrass. Dig into your record collection, and you'll also find her work on albums from Steve Earle, The Decemberists, Mandy Moore, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett and Father John Misty, to boot. Today, Sara discusses how vinyl has played a major factor in her life, right down to how her dad crafted a makeshift turntable out of a sewing needle and paper. Find Sara's socials, upcoming live dates and more info at SaraWatkins.com.