Over the past few years, vinyl records have been making a big comeback – exciting news for the hundreds of independent record stores across the country.
Saturday is the 10th annual Record Store Day, giving music fans something to celebrate.
Digital music has driven down sales of vinyl records and CDs for years, and many record stores have gone out of business, but that’s slowly changing.
“Well, I have to tell you, we are experiencing now a major resurgence in the popularity of vinyl LPs,” said Zev Feldman of Resonance Records, an independent record label. “To borrow that old adage, ‘What is old is new again.’”
Recently, artists of all genres have been releasing new music the old fashioned way -- on vinyl.
Jazz is one genre that’s seeing a lot of records drop.
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Feldman has been searching the world unearthing rare jazz recordings and releasing them on vinyl.
“Decades after these recordings were made, we are still making incredible discoveries from important artists and unearthing these new recordings that are coming to light for the very first time,” he said.
That includes jazz legends like Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Jaco Pastorius.
Many of those new jazz recordings and other music will be available to the public for the first time Saturday.
“Just by going to your record store and picking up one of these releases or any other record in that store, you’re supporting a local business and you’re supporting the artists,” Feldman said. “And I can’t stress that enough. So important.”
If you haven’t visited a record store in a while, Saturday may be the day to change that. Many record stores across the country will have local musicians you can meet and talk to about the music.
At Joe’s Record Paradise in Silver Spring, you’ll be able to meet Billy Hancock, Tex Rubinowitz, Mark Wenner of the Nighthawks and Johnny Castle of the Thrillbillys. You’ll also be able to meet Thelonious Monk’s grandson.
