Photo courtesy of Record Store Day
Story by Allison Borrell / Contributing Writer and Hayden Goodridge / Music Editor
Record Store Day was founded as both an organization and an annual event celebrating the culture of independently owned record stores in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2007.
The previous year, one of the largest international music retail chains, Tower Records, had shut down, and record store owners and employees were looking for a way to reignite people’s interest in brick-and-mortar record stores.
Michael Kurtz, the president of a group of record store chains across the U.S., invited several record store owners to a meeting in Baltimore to discuss the future of record stores among the rise of digital retailers.
It was during this meeting that Chris Brown, an employee of the Maine and New Hampshire-based record store chain Bull Moose Music, presented the idea of Record Store Day through an email to Kurtz. Brown suggested that they look toward the success of Free Comic Book Day, which had helped struggling independent comic book stores stay relevant, as inspiration for an annual event that would bring more people into the stores.
Kurtz and others from the meeting in Baltimore took Brown’s idea and made it into a reality. The first Record Store Day was launched as an annual music event the following year on April 19, 2008, and has been held on the third Saturday of April every year since then.
With Record Store Day’s 11th annual event coming up on April 21, here’s a timeline looking back through the years of the event:
Nashville’s Participating Record Stores to Visit
Grimey’s
Grimey’s has a long history and reputation as one of the United States’ finest independent record stores, and for good reason. On Record Store Day, the Eighth Avenue store makes use of its back parking lot for music performances as well as food trucks on top of the store-wide sale taking place throughout the day.
Third Man Records
Jack White’s small, odd record label and store will be releasing label-exclusives on Record Store Day with in-store performances from Dancers, Teddy and the Rough Riders and Soccer Mommy.
The Groove
This Record Store Day, East Nashville’s neighborhood record shop, The Groove, is teaming up with ACME Radio to provide live performances and food trucks throughout the day in the stores “backyard.” The Groove is also making all vinyl, CD’s and cassettes 15 percent off for the day-long celebration.
To contact Music Editor Hayden Goodridge, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
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