The Vinyl Guide
375 episodes listed below
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Nate is a record collector, music lover and vinyl maniac. Join him on his journey to discuss, share and review all things related to vinyl records. We feature stories about and interviews with musicians, artists and people of knowledge in the area of vinyl records. Additionally we share information on desirable pressings of records, how to tell a $5 pressing from a $500 pressing and care and maintenance for your cratedigging hobby. Subscribe and share with your record-nerd friends. Cheers!
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Nate Goyer turns artist interviews and collector talk into a detailed account of how records acquire sound, history, scarcity, and meaning.
The Vinyl Guide follows records through the hands of musicians, collectors, archivists, mastering engineers, and music-business veterans. Nate Goyer brings collector knowledge to the interviews without making himself the main event.
A 27-minute Funkadelic LP side makes your pressing preferences suddenly feel consequential.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A vault-level look at Bongo Fury, Beefheart, and the messy work of keeping Zappa history alive.
Joe Vaultmeister Travers and Nate Goyer spend their time in the good weeds here: the Bongo Fury story, the 50th anniversary box set, Frank Zappa's vault, and the way Captain Beefheart fit into the tour. What makes it work is the detail.
A record-business hangout that turns Zeppelin-era publicity into a very human craft lesson.
Danny Goldberg turns a long, high-level career into something unexpectedly human. The talk moves through Billboard, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, record labels, management, and the awkward work of trying to land the right publicity when the band is already bigger than the plan.
A loose, lived-in Stooges conversation that treats memory, noise, and swing as part of the same story.
Mike Watt makes the Stooges feel like a living band, not a memory exercise. Nate Goyer gives him room to move between the years with Iggy and the Stooges and the small details that make the songs stick, like titles, licks, and the way a tune can still land hard.
A Levitation recap that widens into Austin, record art, and the people around the scene.
This episode stays with Levitation, but it keeps opening outward to Austin, record designs, and the people who keep a scene alive. Nate and Harry move from the festival floor to the Reverberation Appreciation Society without losing the thread, and the Austin talk has enough…
A preservation story built around tape condition, master choices, and the tradeoffs behind the sound.
Dave Gardner and Catherine Varicoli treat catalog preservation as a practical chain of choices: tape condition, source selection, format limits, and the decision about which master can carry a record back into circulation.
A detail-rich pass through SNFU history, with archive material and a live Las Vegas launch keeping it grounded.
Episode 528 treats SNFU as a collector's history lesson, with Mark and Brent Belke tracing the band's origins, recordings, rare records, and longer legacy.
A rare record story that keeps pulling the music back to memory, gear, and scene detail.
Randy Holden's story comes through as both a rare record tale and an early heavy music origin story. The episode moves through his late 60s rise, the Blue Cheer connection, the near miss with the Yardbirds, and the long-running question of how many copies of Population II were…
A patient music-geek interview that turns a UMI story into a wider record-nerd detour.
Davey Lane's interview feels like a collector's conversation that keeps opening new drawers. Nate keeps the improbable arc at the center: a teenage fan who transcribed UMI songs before joining the band at 18, still in high school.
Clear guitar lessons for steady beginners.
Practical talk for stronger school music programs.
Playful music lessons built for listening.
Music education with practice, policy, and feeling.
A cappella, from the classroom to the loop station.
Mark and Brent Belke talk through SNFU’s early record-hunting habits in Alberta, including Trouser Press ads, money orders, and waiting weeks for imports.
Lucinda Williams talks with Nate Goyer on The Vinyl Guide about her new album World's Gone Wrong, due January 23, and says Tom Overby pushed her back into recording after her stroke.
Nate Goyer talks with Erik “Smelly” Sandin of NOFX about the band’s final shows, the pace of new recording, and the January 16-18 Punk Rock Museum retrospective in Las Vegas.
Nate Goyer sits down with Randy Holden and treats him as the kind of guitarist who matters to both record collectors and music nerds.
The Vinyl Guide opens episode 518 with Nate Goyer introducing an in-person conversation with Morris and Paul of Blood Incantation.
Nate Goyer talks with record collector and dealer Ian McQuillan about collectible Elvis Presley records.
Episode 516 brings Nate together with filmmaker Josh Rausch and Kevin Smith for a conversation about punk, records, and movies.
The Vinyl Guide talks with producer Plug about a life built around records.
The Vinyl Guide sits down with Nick Aguilar for a collector first conversation.
Nate Goyer talks with Davey Lane about his path from fan to member of UMI.
Bootsy Collins talks with Nate Goyer on The Vinyl Guide episode 522 about James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Buckethead, and his newer focus on philanthropy.
Shooter Jennings joins Nate Goyer on The Vinyl Guide to discuss Waylon Jennings’ lost tapes, the new Songbird release, and the process of restoring hundreds of two-inch reels from his father’s archive.
The Vinyl Guide episode 521 features Nate Goyer in a long conversation with Raymond Pettibon, whose work appears on records and flyers for Black Flag, Sonic Youth, and Off, and whose art is now in the Getty Collection and Yale.
Jen Keenan describes Queen Bee Vinyl Cafe in Cottonwood, Arizona as a record store, cafe, coffee roaster, barbershop, ramen house, and live-music space spread across two connected buildings.
The Vinyl Guide interview with Chuck Negron centers on Three Dog Nightmare, his 2022 memoir about the Bronx, Columbia Records, Three Dog Night, and years of addiction and recovery.
Karina Round describes how Puscifer moved from a 'comedy collective' into a rotating multimedia project with characters, videos, a comic book, and the new album Normal Isn't arriving February 6.
Toody Cole discusses Dead Moon’s 1954 cutting lathe, which still sits in her house, and says Fred Cole used it to cut mono masters after studying a Xerox copy of the manual.
John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants returns to The Vinyl Guide to talk about the new album The World Is To Dig, due April 14, and the recent Eyeball EP that emerged from the same writing cycle.
Larry Mullins talks through playing drums for Iggy Pop and the Stooges, including the period after Scott Asheton became too sick to perform.
Nate Goyer talks with Ramones tour manager Monte A.
Nate interviews Zev Feldman about his Record Store Day 2026 jazz releases from the Joe Siegel Tape Archive.
Nate Goyer interviews Bill Plaster of Dr.
In-depth exploration of Frank Zappa's legendary recording vault and the 50th anniversary remaster of Bongo Fury, featuring Joe Vaultmeister Travers.
Nate sits down with Danny Goldberg, whose career runs from Billboard to Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt, Mercury Records Group, Warner Brothers Records, and Atlantic Records.
Steve Jordan connects Chess Records to his own history through The Dells, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Tommy Tucker's 'High Heel Sneakers,' and a personal compilation called Let's Play Chess.
Johnny Brennan traces the Jerky Boys from home-recorded cassettes in the 1960s and 1970s to an Atlantic Records release in 1991 or 1992.
Mike Watt talks with Nate Goyer about playing with Iggy and the Stooges for “10 and a half years,” why he sees the relationship as a debt, and how Larry Mullins connects to the same Record Store Day tribute project on Org Music.
Jack Prine, son of the legendary songwriter John Prine, joins the Vinyl Guide podcast to discuss the new concert film 'You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine,' growing up with his famous father, the family's independent label Oh Boy Records, and navigating grief as both a family and a fan community.
Episode 519 starts with Nate back from a U.S.
Nate Goyer talks with mastering engineer Dave Gardner and audio archivist Catherine Varicoli about preserving the Westbound Records catalog.
Host Nate Goyer interviews music historian and record collector Matt Pinfield about his recovery from a stroke and his upcoming events at the Punk Rock Museum.
Nate interviews Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers about a forthcoming box set, documentary, and tour.
Nate interviews Chris Ashford of What Records about the early LA punk scene and the first Germs single.
Nate interviews Bill Stevenson and Milo Aukerman of Descendents about new recordings, tour, and official reissues of their vinyl catalog.
Host Nate Goyer celebrates the 500th episode with an interview with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top about his vinyl record and guitar collection.
Host Nate Goyer celebrates episode 500 by reflecting on the show's history and teasing a special guest interview.
Nate interviews punk pioneers Alice Bagg and Kid Congo Powers about the early LA punk scene and their new project Juanita and Juan.
Host Nate Goyer returns from a US trip and interviews Michael Gira of Swans about the new album and his life story.
Host Nate Goyer introduces an episode of The Vinyl Guide, featuring an interview with Andrew Falkus of the band McCluskey, recorded at the Austin Record Convention.