Milwaukee-based Americana duo Dead Horses have performed anywhere from coffee shops to opera houses since their formation in 2010, and their profile is only getting larger: While on the road supporting their latest album My Mother The Moon this year and next, they'll play Colorado's legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre, as well as a Jamaican and Mexican cruise alongside Emmylou Harris, the Indigo Girls, Billy Bragg and Jason Isbell. Singer/guitarist Sarah Vos and double bassist Daniel Wolff talk today about their relationships with vinyl, getting their own LP's pressed without a label, working with former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer and more.

Although he toured the world fronting garage-rock kingpins The Mistreaters in the early 2000's, Chris Schulist has never lost his affinity for the boom-bap style of 80's and 90's rap. Dope Folks Records -- a Milwaukee label he co-founded in 2010 with friend John Kuester -- is fueled by a passion for crate digging; Dope Folks primarily represses underground or deep cut 12" rap singles with minimalist packaging in limited quantities, even working with legendary acts like Black Sheep and Tha Alkaholiks. If that didn't keep him busy enough, Chris is also a partner in the popular Milwaukee restaurant The Vanguard (with fellow garage-rock veteran Jim McCann of the Baseball Furies), serving unique sausages and cocktails to everyone from WWE wrestlers to headlining comedians like Bill Burr to Chris' old pal Jack White. On today's show, Chris details how his uncle got him into record collecting, which Sesame Street record has the best bass lines, why Kiss makes it increasingly tough for their fans to stick with them, and much more.

A daily must-visit for record collectors everywhere, Discogs.com launched in 2000 with the lofty goal of cataloging every piece of recorded music in history. Fast-forward nearly two decades, and Discogs has over 9 million different releases currently documented. They've also got a popular mobile app, a busy digital marketplace that fuels the vinyl community worldwide, and sister sites that similarly catalog books, comics, posters, films and recording gear. Discogs CEO Chad Dahlstrom joins us today to talk about his own record collection, the site's recent ban on bootlegged and pirated material, building relationships with artists and labels, updates we can expect in the future and much more. Follow @Discogs on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Plus, we debut some brand new music from Ohio quartet Curtail!

Founded in 1964, Stoughton Printing Company is a leading provider of quality music packaging and production planner Rob Maushund is at the helm of getting that superior work out the door and into record stores around the world. From working first-hand and directly with King Tuff, Jack White or Thurston Moore to Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Gillian Welch or Father John Misty, Rob's 30+ year career at Stoughton has led to literally thousands of astounding record packages, earning Grammys and other industry accolades. On this episode, Rob shares his thoughts on the inaugural Making Vinyl Conference in Detroit this past fall, the history of the tip-on jacket process, and how musicians can explore a vast realm of packaging options without spending a fortune.

Today, Andrew Winistorfer from Vinyl Me, Please tells us about their new reissue of Bell's debut LP (originally released by Stax), and what it's been like to get to know the 78-year-old Bell himself while working on the project. Also, Jim speaks with record collector friends Perry Day and Mike Pecucci to get their angle on Record Store Day, as well as Pinwheel Records owner Scott Schaaf, as he prepares for their biggest day of the year.

President and CEO of Fairfax, VA's Furnace Record Pressing Eric Astor has seemingly done it all within the record label / disto / CD and vinyl pressing universe over the last 20+ years, with zero sign of stopping: Furnace is soon adding 16 new and refurbished vinyl presses, likely solidifying them as the second largest vinyl pressing plant in America. Today, Eric chats about his previous and current companies (including ORGMusic, VinylStyl and Lumberjack Distribution), as well as what these new machines mean for not just Furnace's output, but for the current bottlenecking experienced across the board by today’s vinyl manufacturers.

Within the last five years, U-Turn Audio has gone from the Kickstarter dream of three east coast college students to one of the biggest names in turntables. In a fanatical vinyl market, they've managed to stand apart by making each deck to order, keeping their manufacturing in Boston and offering audiophile-like quality at a price tag that's nearly half of those of their largest competitors. U-Turn's customization factor is also a huge selling point, with listeners having the ability to add a pop of color, a higher-end cartridge, a cue lever and more to an already stellar piece of equipment. Co-founder Ben Carter drops in this week to discuss the company's genesis, how the audiophile community influenced U-Turn's original designs, the endless debate between belt-driven and direct-driven turntables, his affection for Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" and the impact of Pennie Smith's iconic photo on the front of The Clash's "London Calling."

A music lover from an early age, author and screenwriter Garon Cockrell is rather new to the obsessive world of vinyl. Yet, he's fallen deep enough down the rabbit hole to know that his penchant for classic country, modern pop and horror scores -- especially those reissued by labels like Death Waltz, Mondo and Waxwork -- is unlike any other hobby. As a cast member of the pioneering and award-winning podcast Never Not Funny (hosted by comedian and previous Vinyl Emergency guest Jimmy Pardo), Garon talks today about the genesis of his Pop Culture Beast website, why his new love for vinyl came from not wanting to take music for granted and how Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" started the whole damn thing.

Founding member of classic rock staple The Grass Roots ("Let's Live For Today," "Midnight Confessions"), musician and actor Creed Bratton turns 75 this month, and has seemingly led multiple lives both before and after his departure from the band in 1968: Dude wrangling in California; Working in an electronics factory in Munich; Literally being chased out of an Algerian town; And most notably, playing a far-weirder version of himself during The Office's iconic eight-year run on NBC. Today, Creed remembers his Dual turntable and collection of 45's, the country-western band his grandparents played in, listening to legendary disc jockey B. Mitchel Reed as a kid, the work of the legendary Wrecking Crew, and his sage advice to anyone pursuing their passions. We also discuss his imminent new album While The Young Punks Dance, his upcoming film The Sisters Brothers (starring Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix) and whether the Creed of Dunder Mifflin really was "the Scranton Strangler."

Today's show is all about getting -- and keeping -- your records clean! Perfect Vinyl Forever is a relatively new service based in Wisconsin, determined to restore albums to "better than new" condition through more scientific means than your standard over-the-counter methods. Founder Steve Evans joins us today to discuss the do's and don'ts of commercially available cleaning processes (like brush-and-solution combos and Spin-Clean Record Washers), how PVF strives to improve the fidelity of brand new LP's, the different types of record collectors he encounters, and the joy he gets from working on Perfect Vinyl Forever with his daughters, who also appear on today's episode to discuss their own appreciation for records as well as their feelings as young women in a collector's culture that isn't always inviting or inclusive. If you're in the Milwaukee area, check out Perfect Vinyl Forever's next record cleaning clinic at Ultra Fidelis in Wauwatosa, WI on January 27, and visit PerfectVinylForever.com for more info!