Record Store Day 2018: Podcasts to listen to while you’re in line

Friday, Apr 20, 2018 8:03 AM

Crate-diggers, unite! Record Store Day – that celebration of supporting your local music retailer and sonic community building – is near! From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, head over to Southwest Sound for rare finds, exclusive releases and to rejoice in a symphonic cacophony of record-cruising, from plainsong to hip-hop to pop rock.

Here’s a stack of music podcasts to ear-chew while you’re vinyl-pining in line before the store opens:

“Walking the Floor with Chris Shiflett.” When Chris Shiflett’s not on tour as the lead guitarist of the Foo Fighters or doing his solo stuff, he’s interviewing (mostly) country and Americana acts on “Walking the Floor.” Episodes are usually an hour and feature fantastic artists like Chris Stapleton, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Pokey LaFarge and Colter Wall.

“The Combat Jack Show.” Reggie Ossé, host of “The Combat Jack Show,” worked as a hip-hop music attorney. His law career through ’90s hip-hop led to deep friendships with musicians, who he now has lengthy podcast conversations with. Shows are regularly 60 to 120 minutes and have included Russell Simmons, Chuck D., Brother Ali and wider pop culture folks like Oscar award-winning director Jordan Peele. “Couch Wisdom.” Red Bull Radio’s “Couch Wisdom,” is a collection of the best of Red Bull Music Academy’s lectures. Episodes average about an hour and musicians such as Blondie, Björk, Questlove, George Clinton and Iggy Pop throw down on everything from the creative process to the business side of music. “Sound Opinions.” “Sound Onions” is hosted by Greg Kot, author of the Mavis Staples biography I’ll Take You There, and Jim DeRogatis, author of Let it Blurt, the be-all-end-all bio on famous, dead rock critic Lester Bangs. This WBEZ Chicago produced, hourlong show has conversational interviews with top names (like Jack White, Esperanza Spaulding and Iron and Wine), album reviews and music history chatting on everything from the year punk broke to remembering Chuck Berry. “Disgraceland.” True crime and rock ’n’ roll merge in “Disgraceland.” This factual podcast covers scandals and crimes perpetuated by musicians. Episodes are 30 minutes long and have touched on Sam Cooke, Sid Vicious, Van Morrison and more. Definitely give a listen if you’re a fan of “Serial” or “My Favorite Murder.” Bonus Podcasts. The “Henry and Heidi Podcast” features punk icon and publisher Henry Rollins in conversation with his assistant, Heidi May. There hasn’t been an episode since Sept.ember 2017, but backlogged episodes usually run an hour-plus in length and include Rollins chatting about meeting rock ’n’ roller Jerry Lee Lewis, author Hubert Selby Jr. and becoming friends with William Shatner. Record producer Rick Rubin has worked with everyone from Johnny Cash to Jay-Z to The Avett Brothers. In “Broken Record,” he and the best-selling author of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, team up to talk music. Unfortunately, it’s a long wait between episodes. The first one went live in November 2017, with radio silence since then.