How quickly Record Store Day has become one of my favorite holidays. The annual celebration of the independent record store features special performances and a spectacular list of exclusive releases.
I won’t get sentimental about the decline of the record store, yet it is hard to ignore the special qualities that they possess. There’s something to be said about a place that does more than sell music, it celebrates it. Local record stores, certainly the successful ones, foster that kind of atmosphere.
Now if they could only schedule it during the week and make it a national holiday then we could all take the day off and celebrate in style…
Here are but a few of the special in-store performances planned across the country (full list here):
- Slash, Smashing Pumpkins and Spinderella @ Amoeba Music (Hollywood, CA)
- Drive-By Truckers @ Harvest Records (Asheville, NC)
- Josh Ritter, Everest @ The Record Exchange (Boise, ID)
- Grace Potter & the Nocturnals @Bullmoose (Scarborough, ME) and Pure Pop Records (Burlington, VT)
- Bottle Rockets @ Euclid Records (St. Louis, MO)
- Deadstring Brothers @ Culture Clash Records (Toledo, OH)
- Emmylou Harris @ The Groove (Nashville, TN)
And here are but a few of the special, mostly limited edition releases available only from your local independent record store (full list here):
- Beastie Boys, White Label 12″ vinyl
- Black Keys, “Tighten Up” b/w “Howlin’ For You” 12″ vinyl with two new songs (Nonesuch Records)
- Bruce Springsteen, “Wrecking Ball” (Live @ Giants Stadium) b/w “Ghost of Tom Joad” (live, featuring Tom Morello) Limited edition 10″ vinyl single (Columbia Records)
- Citizen Cope, Rainwater Deluxe Limited edition CD signed and numbered by Citizen Cope (Rainwater Recordings)
- Dan Zanes, “Hello Dolly” b/w “I Am What I Am†featuring Carol Channing, on yellow 7″ vinyl (Festival Five Records)
- Drive-By Truckers, “Your Woman is a Living Thing” b/w “Just Maybe” exclusive RSD 7″ vinyl (ATO Records)
- Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Live In Skowhegan Sold out live show recorded the summer of 2008 in New England (Hollywood Records)
- Paolo Nutini, Live @ Preservation Hall EP (Atlantic Records)
- R.E.M., Chronic Town EP (previously out of print debut on individually numbered 12″ blue vinyl) (Interscope Records)
- Rolling Stones, “Plundered My Soul†b/w â€All Down the Line†hand numbered 7″ vinyl single featuring unreleased track from Exile on Main St sessions. (Universal Records)
- Weezer, Ratitude Happy Record Store Day hand picked never before on CD tracks including new versions of “Buddy Holly”, “Why Bother” plus tracks with Kenny G and Sara Bareilles and a cover of Green Day’s “Brain Stew” (DGC Records)
Plus a quartet of special pre-releases:
- Hold Steady, Heaven is Whenever on hand screen-printed vinyl (Vagrant Records)
- Josh Ritter, So Runs The World Away on vinyl (Pitheas Recordings)
- Nada Surf, If I Had a Hi-Fi on cd
- The Apples In Stereo, Travellers in Space and Time on cd (Yep Roc Records)
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.