Back home we didn’t really have any independent record stores except Dad’s CDs, potentially my favorite store that ever did business in the Tri-Cities. There’s something about having a shop you can go to where you know the employees, trust their recommendations, pick up records, CDs and merch from your favorite acts and come across some rare finds that you accidentally end up cherishing. When Dad’s was open I would stroll in every couple of days, usually 2-3 times per week and always walked out with something – and that’s when I was broke.

Dad’s has since closed down in Kingsport and Johnson City and I moved away to a small town in North Carolina where we didn’t even have a record store. Because of these events, the founding of Record Store Day in 2007 didn’t really mean anything to me…

…and then we moved to Knoxville. Over the last couple of years Record Store Day has, for me, been just as important and exciting as November 1 Halloween deal shopping. I love digging through the boxes of vinyl, used CDs and random merch hoping to find pure gold for a steal. More than anything it’s great to know that you’re supporting true independent businesses who love music just as much as we do. This year was going to be a big year for us and at the end of the day we certainly weren’t disappointed.

We had three stops today:

1. Wild Honey Records

https://www.instagram.com/p/YV0fmRr2Sy/

Finds:

Toots and the Maytals – “Roots Reggae”
U2 – “The Fly” (12″)
U2 – “Mysterious Ways” (12″)
Parliament Funkadelic – “The Bomb (Greatest Hits)”
Harry Belafonte – “Calypso in Brass”
Burt Bacharach – “Burt Bacharach & Friends”

2. Disc Exchange

https://www.instagram.com/p/YV0IizL2SG/

Finds:

White Stripes – “White Blood Cells”
Hank Williams – “20 Greatest Hits”
Def Leppard – “Pyromania”
War – “Greatest Hits”
Righteous Brothers – “Just Once In My Life”
Those Darlins – “Be Your Bro” (7″)
Jack White – “Sixteen Saltines” (7″)
Rob Zombie – “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Super Town” (12″ 45rpm with reverse groove)

3. Raven Records

https://www.instagram.com/p/YVz0v6L2Rn/

Finds:

Amy Winehouse – “the Ska EP” (7″)
Tina Turner – “Private Dancer”
Santana – “Santana’s Greatest Hits”
the Exploited – “Punks Not Dead”
Elvis – “Worldwide Gold Award Hits Parts 1 & 2”
The Cecil Holmes Soulful Sounds – “The Black Motion Picture Experience”

And what a better way to end our Record Store Day shopping than by a Margherita flat and Wells Banana Bread Beer?

http://instagram.com/p/YVhYsar2QY/

Some other recent vinyl purchases, mostly via EBay

Jimmy Cliff – “Rebirth”
Miles Davis – “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” (7″ 45rpm)
Miles Davis – “A Tribute to Jack Johnson”
Various – “Dance Craze”
John Coltrane – “Africa / Brass”
Soul Radics – “Down To the Hall”
Miles Davis – “Bitches Brew”
Amy Winehouse – “Back to Black”
the Selecter – “Too Much Pressure”