“I don’t really remember my first love. Or rather I remember it in pictures and stories from my family. How I would play Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy over and over and how I’d scratch the record to put the needle back on that song, the first track on side 2 of what I later realized is not Mr. Campbell’s best work. But that cowboy in white on the cover, hat raised high and riding his horse in the desert. I was in. Then I dropped the record and it broke. I am told I cried all day.”
“My first memory of vinyl that I know is my own was later, in Kentucky, in the log cabin I spent my formative years in, pulling old records from my parents collection and listening on the cheap system we had. I fell in love with the Skeeter Davis song “The End of the World.” It’s such a classic country song, complete with a recitation verse and a steel guitar and a gentle shuffle beat. It was also sad. And man, I love sad songs.
This all happened near the end of vinyl’s reign, and I spent way too much money on cassette tapes in the coming years, and then of course amassed a ridiculous collection of CDs. But still I’d buy the occasional vinyl. Paul Simon’s Graceland, R.E.M.’s Murmur record. Uncle Tupelo’s March 16-20. I frequented Recordsmith in Richmond, Kentucky. CD Central in Lexington, and once I moved out west, Groovacious in Cedar City, Utah. Not only are record stores places to find great music, they are usually inhabited by folks who have way better taste than me. The workers in the few stores that are left are the monks of wax. They ask you a few questions and send you home with something you didn’t know you needed, and it fills a void in your soul.
When vinyl started its resurgence, I was excited to eventually make my own vinyl album, but then I looked at the expenses and couldn’t quite pull the trigger. However, that changed when I started working on my new album, Kentuckian, filled with my own sad End of the Worlds and upbeat Rhinestone Cowboys. I feel like these songs are my best work, and I wanted to share them in a more lasting format.
I also wanted a place to share more than just the songs. I miss the days when fans could devour everything about an album, including the packaging. I love reading about the musicians, engineers, studios, and all the art. A few weeks ago the test pressings of my first album on vinyl arrived, and there was a reverence and joy to place the needle down on my own record. I was a bit more careful than I was with the Rhinestone Cowboy, and I hope the record store monks might approve.”
—Jason Tyler Burton
Kentuckian, the new full length release from Jason Tyler Burton, is in stores now—on vinyl.
Jason Tyler Burton Official | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
PHOTO: ERICA CHAMBERS
