This is Vinyl Tap

Send us Fan Mail In this very special podcast, we honor the memory of one of music's biggest icons, Dolly Parton, who passed away August 25, at age 80. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail On this week's episode, we dive into Loaded, the fourth LP by the Velvet Underground, and the last one to feature founding member Lou Reed, who left before the album was released. Loaded is roundly regarded as the Velvets at their most accessible. After leaving MGM/Verve for Atlantic, the band was "encouraged" by their new label to focus on making hits (hence the title, alluding to the album being "loaded" with hits). Reed gave up some the reigns of the band...

Send us Fan Mail On this week's episode, we discuss 1997's Kontiki, by Cotton Mather. Produced by the band's songwriter and lead singer Robert Harrison and recorded on 4-track cassettes and ADAT, Kontiki is a low-fi sonic masterpiece that has garnered comparisons to the Beatles and Big Star. Originally released in 1997, Kontiki was not an initial commercial success. A re-release in the UK in 1999 breathed new life into the album and led to Noel Gallagher of Oasis to praise the album i...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode we talk about the historic seventh studio album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,Will the Circle Be Unbroken. Having proved their worth with a hit cover of the Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mister Bojangles," the Dirt Band and were given the go ahead to work on an unusual yet inspired project: an album of old county and bluegrass tunes where the Dirt band would act as a supporting a cast for several legendary bluegrass and country artists, such as Roy Acuff, M...

Send us Fan Mail As long-time listener's know, as a part of all of our discussions, we have a segment called Connections, where we connect the artist and album we are currently talking about to artists and albums we have discussed on previous episodes. For our interview with singer-songwriter Beaver Nelson, we played an extended version of Connections with him. Beaver has worked with a ton of people in the music industry, and as a result, he came prepared to show us what a real game of ...