This is Vinyl Tap

This is Vinyl Tap

Mining the layers of long players. We focus on great albums in their entirety and believe every album tells a story. We take a deep dive into the history of the artist and the album while discussing the merits of the music within the grooves. We are highly opinionated and outspoken and hope to provoke you into sharing your own opinions on albums. If you are serious about great music, this is your podcast. www.tappingvinyl.com

Episodes

October 2, 2026 • 132 mins

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On this "very special episode" of This Is Vinyl Tap, we bring in special guest Mike Middleton to talk about Seconds of Pleasure by the band Rockpile. 

Mike is a Austin drummer who was a member of Mojo Nixon's band the Toadliquors. He has also played with Junior Brown, Rosie Flores, Dave Alvin, John Doe, Beaver Nelson, and members of the Beat Farmers (just to name a few).  Mike brings his unique perspective ...

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On this very special episode, we honor the memory of one of music's biggest icons, Dolly Parton, who passed away August 25, at age 80.  

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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...

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July 23, 2026 • 139 mins

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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...

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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 l...

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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 ...

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On this episode of This Is Vinyl Tap, we do something a little different from our typical fare and interview Austin singer-songwriter Beaver Nelson. 

Beaver Nelson has been on the Austin scene since before he graduated from high school. His talent as a songwriter was almost immediately recognized by some of the finest singer-songwriters at the time, which gave him the opportunity to perform and record with some ...

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On this episode we tackle the LP that introduced the world to Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: 1967's Safe as Milk. 

Captain Beefheart, né Don Van Vliet, is best known for having recorded one of the most heralded rock albums of all time -Trout Mask Replica. But for many, that double album is a confounding listen with it's atonal song structures, disconcerting time signatures, and bizarre vocals.  Howev...

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January 12, 2026 • 111 mins

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On this episode we discuss Dave Alvin and his 1994 LP, King of California. 

Dave Alvin started his storied career in Los Angeles with the Blasters, a band he founded with his brother Phil. Full of energy and attitude, the Blasters found themselves embraced by the LA  punk scene. The band did find some commercial success, but they fought like cats and dogs, which while it added to their intensity, but not th...

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December 25, 2025 • 117 mins

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On this episode we discuss one America's great modern singer-songwriters -Robbie Fulks, and his wonderful 2016 album Upland Stories. 

Produced by the late, great Steve Albini, Upland Stories combines folk and traditional country elements into a rich collection of narrative-driven songs. The album and the fantastic opening track “Alabama at Night” both earned a Grammy nominations, recognition for what...

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November 27, 2025 • 139 mins

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On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Joni Mitchell’s 1971’s LP Blue, regarded by most critics as a masterpiece and consistently is listed on best of lists of the greatest albums ever made. 

A bit of a sea change for Mitchell, incorporating jazz stylings in both her phrasing and the music, it’s sparse on instrumentation, yet the songs feel full largely due to Mitchell's own vocals.  

C...

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It's a listener pick! On this episode we look at one of the most influential musical groups of the twentieth century - Sly and the Family Stone, and their 1970 LP There's a Riot Goin' On.

By 1970, Sly Stone and his band had already had a huge impact on modern music. It was a mixed-race and mixed-gender band that spoke of love and harmony among all people. Hits like "Everyday People," "Dance to the Music," an...

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This week we discuss Ian Hunter and his 1979 LP You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic.  Hunter worked a long time to find success. His band Mott the Hoople were instrumental in advancing glam rock by giving it a rougher edge. David Bowie was such a fan of the band that he even gave them the song "All the Young Dudes" which became the title track for their most popular album, which he also produced. Hunter eve...

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On this week's episode, we discuss the self-titled debut by the New York Dolls, one of most influential albums of the 1970s. 

The New York Dolls blended the Rolling Stones' swagger with garage rock aggression and glam rock theatrics, that both embraced the sounds of early rock and roll and foreshadowed punk rock. 

Produced in what seems like an unusual hands-off approach by Todd Rundgren,The New York Dolls p...

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On this week's episode, we discuss  an album that came out in 2024, the fifth album by the Lemon Twigs, A Dream is All We Know. 

Consisting of multi-instrumentalist brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario, the music of the Lemon Twigs often feels like it’s been plucked straight from the 1960s or 1970s. Echos of the Beatles, the Kinks and the Beach Boys are obvious, in fact they brothers call the sound of...

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July 5, 2025 • 114 mins

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On this episode, we discuss one of the most heralded debut albums of the early 1990's: The La's by the La's. 

Heavily influenced by the 1960s British Invasion bands, The La’s is full of bright, jangly, melodic guitar pop, ear-worms all. The single “There She Goes” has become a classic, and is possibly one of the most perfectly constructed pop songs ever recorded. The album’s history, howe...

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On this episode, we discuss one of the first albums of 1967, the eponymous debut by the Youngbloods.  

1967 is one of the most heralded years in rock music, and The Youngbloods was a good primer to the music that would come culminating in the Summer of Love. Originally from the East Coast, the Youngbloods took inspiration from the folk music and acoustic blues they heard and played in the coffee houses of the in...

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On this episode, we discuss Grievous Angel, the last album recorded by one of the most interesting, tragic, and influential people in modern music: Gram Parsons.  

In just six short years, from 1967 until his death in the fall of 1973, Gram Parson help pioneer what would become known as country rock, or what he preferred to call  "Cosmic American Music." In those six years, he made several landmark albums w...

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On this weeks episode, we discuss an LP by John Wesley Harding (né Wesley Stace), 1996’s John Wesley Harding’s New Deal. 

After releasing two EPs and three full length albums with a full band for Sire Records, Harding decided to strip down his sound for his debut on his new label Forward Records (an imprint of Rhino Records). Harding much preferred the intimacy of  acoustic live performances and...

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On this weeks episode, we take a listen to a true Texas legend, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and his 1993, Spinning Around the Sun.

With his high, lonesome voice, Jimmy Dale embodies the very essence of that land from which he hails, the Texas Panhandle. Even thought he was in his forties when his first solo album was recorded, he had already made his mark on the musical landscape of the Lone Star State, having been in the l...

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