The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Blues legend Taj Mahal shares rare stories about Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and the unreleased Bill Withers song that shaped his stunning new record.
Topics Include:
Taj Mahal discusses his new album, Time, and its origins
Reveals his decades-long friendship and mutual respect with Bill Withers
Explains how Bill Withers heard and loved this unreleased demo
Bill Withers' wife gave final approval before the song's release
Withers walked away from music rather than change his sound
Why the industry pushed Withers to sound more commercial
Taj shares why vinyl beats digital for capturing real sound
Breaks down the "bell curve" problem with digital audio quality
Approaches albums as full journeys, not three-minute singles
Reveals how effortlessly he sequences songs like a live set
Traces his musical roots to a tight-knit 1940s community
Recalls learning piano, clarinet, trombone before finding the guitar
Explains how guitar evolved from rhythm to lead instrument
Names the blues legends who shaped his earliest influences
Credits Ray Charles as one of his deepest musical influences
Shares rare stories of jamming with Jimi Hendrix live
Discusses bootlegs, tape trading, and the ethics of live recordings
Compares the Grateful Dead's bootleg policy to other artists
Tells the wild story of Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus
Recalls dancing Stones and Clapton watching him at the Whisky
Explains how British rockers reintroduced blues to American audiences
Describes his first-class trip to London and Stones' hospitality
Reveals why Labor of Love was released only on vinyl
Shares the surprising stat: vinyl never drops below 6% globally
Talks new tour dates and hopes to return to Australia
Photo by Mike Coeyman
High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
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Everlast traces his journey from Rhyme Syndicate graffiti kid to House of Pain to solo artist, revealing how Jump Around's success gave him the freedom to never chase a hit again.
New LP "Embers to Ashes" available here
Topics Include:
Everlast's new album Embers to Ashes drops August 28th with vinyl available
He collects art and guitars, not records — leaves vinyl to the DJs
His guitar collection spans vintage Fender Strats, Gretsch Falcons, and Martin acoustics
Grew up immersed in graffiti culture, his kids are graffiti artists too
His house is essentially a private gallery of graffiti and street art
Music was always on — mom loved R&B and doo-wop, dad loved Southern rock
His dad had a guitar; Everlast taught himself basic chords by watching TV
Hip hop took over at 15, but guitar quietly stayed in his life
He plays guitar like a drummer — rhythm-first, not melody-first
The breakthrough came post-House of Pain: suddenly he could play and sing simultaneously
Whitey Ford Sings the Blues was conceived as hip hop — "What It's Like" changed everything
Jump Around's success gave him the financial freedom to never chase it again
He and Muggs deliberately made each subsequent record darker and more distant from it
Soul Assassins kept management out of sessions — artistic control was non-negotiable
His first ever rhyme came from tagging alongside Divine Styler and the Rhyme Syndicate crew
Danny Boy introduced him to punk — Bad Brains and the LA hardcore scene
His debut solo record split between pure artistic vision and label-pleasing compromises
Tommy Boy won his loyalty over bigger-money offers purely on cultural credibility
Just Another Victim with Helmet emerged organically on the Judgment Night soundtrack
Lethal sampled and slowed Helmet's track, then sandwiched both versions together
After eight-plus years away, Yellow Wolf simply asked "why don't you make a record?"
COVID, divorce, and losing his house shaped the emotional landscape of the new album
Yellow Wolf pushed him to fully sing — his strongest vocal performance on record
A near-miss connection to the Bataclan attack was redirected by a last-minute camera detour
He's got shows booked and eyes a final solo acoustic tour as his ultimate bookend
High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
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Support the show at Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Peter Hook reflects on 50 years of music, the emotional weight of performing Joy Division and New Order live, and the many memories and ghosts of his past.
Tickets for Peter Hook & The Light, Australia 2026
Topics Include:
New Order toured Australia as early as 1982, helped by Factory Australasia's local support.
Hooky calls Australia the only place he never wants to leave — he still suffers leaving every time.
Peter Hook and the Light played their seventh-ever gig in Melbourne on their first Australian tour.
He is now working through every New Order and Joy Division album ever recorded live.
Get Ready features songs never played live as New Order, with Steve Morris largely absent during recording.
The band's Grammy came from Orgy's heavy metal cover of Blue Monday — Hook loves the weird covers most.
He revealed a plan to stage a full New Order classical concert, eyeing the Sydney Opera House.
Ian Curtis performed with absolute conviction every single night — something Bernard Sumner couldn't match early on.
Hook recalls first seeing Ian smash up a venue at 2:30am, dancing through broken tables — terrifying and electrifying.
That chaotic Stiff/Chiswick talent show led directly to Rob Gretton becoming Joy Division's manager.
Ian's lyrics, Hook says, are heartbreaking up close — Love Will Tear Us Apart masks devastating words in euphoric music.
Singing Ian's words himself has given Hook a profound new insight into what Curtis was actually expressing.
Tony Wilson signed them with a handshake — no contracts — while other labels arrived with thick legal documents.
Bernard Sumner found the Unknown Pleasures pulsar image in a textbook; nobody planned the iconic sleeve.
Hooky was actually sued for bootlegging the Unknown Pleasures artwork — which Factory themselves had originally stolen.
Ian Curtis reportedly wrote a letter complaining about how Closer sounded — a detail Hook only learned years later.
During Closer sessions, Curtis was being torn apart: marriage collapsing, new love, epilepsy worsening, the band pushing forward.
Hook deeply regrets not seeing Ian before his cremation — but a gravedigger privately told him where Curtis is actually buried.
The inquest into Ian's death so disgusted the band they decided on the spot to continue as New Order.
Joy Division was deliberately boxed away for 30 years; Bernard called playing those songs "miserable" and refused to continue.
Bobby Gillespie suggested the album playback concept so Hook could faithfully recreate Martin Hannett's studio sound live.
Watching his son learn Joy Division bass lines at the same age Hook was then felt like staring into the past.
Performing these songs, Hook says he is "living surrounded by ghosts" of collaborators now gone.
The K-93 sessions saw Killing Joke's Geordie Walker move into Hook's Manchester home for six weeks, causing complete chaos.
Those lost K-93 tapes mysteriously surfaced after the label went bankrupt — and Jaz Coleman promptly went silent again.
High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
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Support the show at Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams Jr opens up about his new album "Contemplates the Afterlife," reflecting on death, faith, and a 70-year career that's produced over 2,000 songs.
Extended and high resolution podcast at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Topics Include:
New album, Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife, drops on S-Curve
Swamp Dogg shares wild theories on what happens after death
He opens up about faith, doubt, and fear of dying
Reveals he's written over 2,000 songs across 31 albums
His very first record came out way back in 1954
Stories of opening for Sam Cooke and Larry Williams
Names the R&B legends who shaped his sound early on
Louis Jordan's band once crashed at his childhood home
Tells the story of the worst gig of his life
A gorilla costume gets stabbed onstage — true story
Joining a traveling sideshow for five dollars a night
Discusses which Swamp Dogg records collectors hunt hardest today
Bob Dylan secretly covered one of his songs years ago
Bonds with the host over their shared Australia connection
Reveals his wild Beatles-cover novelty record made in Australia
Explains how the record business vanished almost overnight
Teases new Trinidad soca album and Black Grass II
Black Grass II will feature Steve Earle and Margo Price
Talks new collaboration album with Eli "Paperboy" Reed
Reflects on his Nixon protest era and Jane Fonda ties
Looks back on going broke after getting rich fast
Recalls producing hit records for Gene Pitney and others
Shares fond memories of legendary producer Jerry Wexler
The stopwatch story behind his studio recording ritual
On Phil Spector's massive ego and Wall of Sound
Reveals which British acts covered his songs in the '60s
Talks favorite record stores and his 100-record jukebox
Hunting down rare 45s worth up to $1,000
The story behind his dance hit "Let's Do the Wobble"
Closes with favorite love songs and a wild birthday coincidence
Extended and high resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Apple: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-ios
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Support the show at Patreon.com/VinylGuide

Lydia Lunch unpacks the raw origins of No Wave, her squatting-and-surviving New York story, and why after five decades of confrontational art, pleasure remains the ultimate rebellion.
Australian tour tickets and show info here.
Topics Include:
Lydia Lunch is touring Australia and New Zealand in June
She's performing Suicide and Alan Vega covers across multiple cities
Australia holds deep personal meaning — Roland S. Howard, Tex Perkins, lifelong friends
Lydia considers herself a comedian; most people are just too afraid to laugh
Words are her primary art — music is just the machine gun
She sleeps in two-hour shifts and wakes famished at 5am every day
Creativity has no fixed time — she writes song lyrics in five minutes flat
She self-publishes through 48-hour printing, selling books for $20, cost $4
True crime forensics and Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike are her guilty pleasures
Daily she rotates between war, politics, and apocalyptic comedy — Dear Ivanka included
She's actively promoting new bands: Genra's Death, Bog Creeper, New City Slang
Instrumental music — Budos Band, Yusef Lateef, Baba Zula — is her listening diet
Suicide and Mars were already playing when she arrived in New York
Suicide actually coined the term "punk rock" on flyers back in 1972
No Wave wasn't a movement — it was personal insanity in a decaying city
The name "No Wave" just came out of her mouth in one interview
If you couldn't play, you had to be brutally tight — or else
She taught a homeless man she'd befriended to play drums for Teenage Jesus
Teenage Jesus songs were written on a borrowed bass she barely understood
She squatted an abandoned Tribeca building, running electricity from neighbours to rehearse
Teenage Jesus singles on Migraine Records likely preceded the No New York compilation
Beirut Slump was horror rock — described as a slug over a razor blade
She arrived in New York with $200, a suitcase, and zero contacts
Seeing Suicide at Max's Kansas City with ten people changed everything instantly
Martin Rev gave teenage Lydia vitamins; Alan Vega was leather-bound and irresistible
She boycotted Bowie and Iggy in Rochester — accidentally saving them from a drug bust
Mick Ronson's Slaughter on 10th Avenue: the glam record Bowie quietly stole from
Lou Reed — always a dick; Warhol — vapid, but his car crashes were great
She owns every recording, every publishing right — everything she's ever made
Her reward for a lifetime of rebellion: pleasure, rage, and zero regrets
High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Apple: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-ios
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-spot
Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/tvg-amazon
Support the show at Patreon.com/VinylGuide