I guess to write about my relationship with vinyl, I’d have to start on Kennings Drive in Memphis, TN, where I grew up. I spent most weekends helping clean our house so I could talk my mom into letting me go out that night, usually involving something dumb and possibly illegal. I’d open my eyes on Saturday mornings to the smell of Comet and the music blasting from the living room. Immediately, I knew she was on a cleaning rampage. My mom had a pretty good little stash of vinyl and also a couple of those real tall, flat speakers made of wood and canvas. Remember those?
Well, she wasn’t scared to turn them up to 11, no matter how early it was. Anyway, after throwing back a few Toaster Strudels, I’d grab a rag and some Old English and go to town, steadily changing the record every time I’d hear it make the scratchy noise. After about 7 years of this, I could sing every note and every word to every song on every record she had. Some of the records in heavy rotation were: Emmylou Harris (of course, I’m a chick singer), Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Neil Young’s Harvest, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, Rosanne Cash, The TRIO records (for the unenlightened…that’s Dolly, Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt), Juice Newton (that’s right), Kenny Loggins (don’t say a word), and well…you get the drift. Thinking back about it now, I think those records and those Saturdays helped shape who I am now as a musician and singer.
Fast-forward to present day (since most of my teens and 20’s were wasted on CDs and MP3s), I am once again a vinyl lover and now owner. My fiancé moved in with me this past year and at first, well…I was horrified at all the CRAP he was moving into my house, you know how musicians are. They’ve got 12 old mic stands, posters that were on their wall in high school, old keyboads that don’t work anymore, 457 band tee-shirts that just didn’t seem to sell and of course, all their instruments that actually work and well, I just about had a heart attack. But, underneath all that crap (sorry honey, I love your stuff), was his Technics record player, a couple of damn nice speakers and a Shangri-La Record Store’s worth of vinyl. It was a beautiful sight. Crates of all that vinyl which I now kinda owned and would get a chance to thumb through and listen to anytime I wanted. Luckily, he has amazing taste, so no worries there. He has introduced me to a lot of new music on vinyl, such as Jazz….Charles Mingus, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, the list goes on.
Nuthin sounds better. Nuthin.
Living in Austin we’re lucky; lots of record stores to choose from. Our favorite is End of an Ear. Bought my first “technically mine” records there thumbing through the sale racks: Kenny Rodgers and First Edition (the one with “Ruby”) and Linda Ronstadt’s Blue Bayou. For a buck each! I mean, really….a buck?
So I guess it’s all come full circle for me, my relationship with vinyl. Now we spend our weekends off cleaning (I clean) and listening to vinyl….bluegrass on Sundays…..and it feels like home again.
Thanks for reading this. Sorry for all the parenthesis.
-Kelley Mickwee
Kelley Mickwee grew up in Memphis, TN. She’s been a road musician for 10 years now, touring for 7 of that in the duo, Jed and Kelley. They released 2 albums, produced by Keith Sykes and featuring Memphis’ finest. She currently lives in Austin, TX and is one fourth of the band, The Trishas. They’ve been a band for 2 years now, released their first mini-album in July of 2010 “They Call Us The Trishas”, and she’s real proud of it.
