Fiona Harte, The TVD First Date

“I asked for a record player for Christmas when I was about 18 years old. My parents laughed at the idea of buying one because they, along with a lot of my older relatives, had owned one but to my disbelief, threw them out thinking they would never use them again what with it being the digital age. My mother kindly bought me one and I forgave them for their sins.”

“The first record I bought was a classic—Joni Mitchell Blue. Even the cover excited me. I just loved the idea of listening to an album that I adored so much but in a different way. I listened to it in my Dublin apartment, so often that I woke from my sleep singing different tracks from it. I then started to search for more records to add to my collection. The next purchase was The Best Of Joan Baez which I picked up at George’s Market in Belfast.

To be honest, I haven’t ventured too far away from the folk world of vinyl—I got a bit addicted to listening to that genre of music in that way. My favourite album to date is Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison. The audience to me adds so much to that recording and hearing it on vinyl is a really special experience, it captures the mood of the show so effortlessly.

Every city I visit I try to go to different thrift shops and more often than not I come out with a new record. Most recently I came across one of my favourite ever vinyl stores, it’s a place in east Nashville called Grimey’s. There I purchased Amy Winehouse Back To Black. Hearing the beauty, sadness, and delicacy in Amy’s voice on this record is like something from a movie—no emotion is unseen or unheard. I also picked up The Beatles Abbey Road (I think you have to have that on the shelf right?) and Van Morrison Astral Weeks.

There’s something about listening to an album on vinyl. To me, it sounds like a picture—if that makes sense! I can see the artist writing and performing the songs and I get that live quality element, it’s as if I am the only person in the world hearing that record.”
—Fiona Harte