Vinyl Emergency Jim Hanke

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 record industry. So while it's different from your typical Vinyl Emergency episode, I hope you'll find this one to be an equally engaging listen, with guests including Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It., Smashed Plastic Record Pressing co-owner Steve Polutnik, Chicago Reader columnist Steve Krakow and music history TikTok sensation Patrick Hicks. Subscribe to Looped In: Chicago wherever you get podcasts, and new VE episodes will come your way soon.

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 influence of his older brother, his time as a member of Son Volt, how experimenting with a modular synth has changed how he views composition, and the 400 Unit's relationship with David Letterman. Visit jasonisbell.com for updates, and follow Derry on Instagram, @tin_pony.

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 tour, and rehabbed an old Victorian bungalow with his own two hands. And while all of these experiences are worth talking about, today he says that being a better listener has been a focused priority as of late. This deliberate intention to say less and observe more has led to a run of rewarding collaborations over the last several years: Duets with Caitlyn Smith and Judah & the Lion, co-producing an LP for John Prine's son Tommy, and touring with the massively-popular Noah Kahan. On this week's episode, Ruston dives deep into the first album he remembers as a child, why he sequences songs specifically for vinyl, and his upcoming EP -- Weakness, Etc. -- a combination of new material and reworkings from his third full-length The Weakness, released last year. Plus, anecdotes on sharing toast with Jackson Browne, and debating Pop-Tarts with his fans. Ruston's upcoming solo acoustic tour begins later this month. Tickets, social media and more are at rustonkelly.com, with Weakness, Etc. dropping March 22.

In bands like Volcano Choir, Pele, Vermont and Collections of Colonies of Bees, guitarist Chris Rosenau has actively sought out a unique ambiguity. Whether through off-kilter tunings, a myriad of loop pedals or long-form improvisations in 130-degree heat, he says he finds his most interesting work comes from trusting others. And that trust has built fruitful creative relationships with enigmatic drummer Jon Mueller, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Sylvan Esso's Nick Sanborn, among others. But in a career of disarming listeners through unexpected approaches, Chris admits his most quizzical move might be in the form of a recently-released debut solo album, where he's stripped everything back to one acoustic guitar, for a tender salute to his late mother. The album, titled 'a light that cracks through,' is now available at chrisrosenau.bandcamp.com. Follow @rosno on Instagram.

While on the Milwaukee Brewers roster in 2011, major league pitcher John Axford created a buzz among indie-rock baseball nerds by forgoing the standard jock jams and using Refused's "New Noise" as his game entrance music. While exposing thousands to the Swedish hardcore band’s chaotic screams and atonal, pummeling instrumentation, the choice also garnered some vocal complaints from opposing coaches and TV announcers. Nonetheless, Axford led the entire National League in saves that season, so who knows if some of the song's lyrics ("Good frames won't save bad paintings") don't indeed secretly speak to pitching. Around this same time, his interest in vinyl records began to blossom, leading him to hunt down Japanese Metallica pressings and connect again with his family’s classic Christmas LP’s. Since then "The Ax Man," as fans have dubbed him, has reached the World Series (with the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals), and done time with the Pirates, Dodgers and Blue Jays, among other organizations. Most recently, Axford represented his home country of Canada in last year’s World Baseball Classic. On this episode, we explore how his dad's vintage Edison phonograph somewhat influenced Axford’s current big budget stereo set-up, his fandom for LP subscription service Vinyl Me, Please and why he won't clean his grandparents' fingerprints off their old records. We also dive into John's recent trip overseas, to a quaint Dutch village where his great uncle's heroism during WWII is cemented and honored forever. Follow @johnaxford on Instagram. PLUS, music this week from Milwaukee band Dramatic Lovers!

At just 16 years old, Amy Fleisher Madden was contributing to her surrounding Florida punk rock scene like a wily veteran. Through booking and promoting national bands visiting the panhandle -- as well as her DIY zine Fiddler Jones -- she had introduced, connected and championed emo, pop-punk and hardcore bands from all over, eventually leading to the start of Fiddler Records, which gave us the first releasees from Dashboard Confessional and New Found Glory. Most recently, Amy is the author of a hefty book documenting a decade of the scene, titled "Negatives: A Photographic Archive of Emo (1996-2006)." Filled with stunning visuals, emphatic essays and more -- plus contributions from various photographers and musicians -- it's a must-have for anyone who spent time in this particular genre during these particular years, or since. Purchase "Negatives" via Amazon or wherever you get literature. More info can be found via @amyxmadden on Instagram, or at amy-madden.com.