“Honestly, I think it’s only recently that I’ve begun to really appreciate vinyl. I certainly remember all the records I used to listen to—all my dad’s that started with The Beatles, The Stones, and Neil Young, and my mom’s Dionne Warwick and Supremes records. We used to listen to a lot of different kinds of music in the house when I was young. Those are such sweet memories. But I feel like maybe the true sonic appreciation I took for granted back then.”
“My friend Joe Purdy gave me and my partner a record player a few years back and we started collecting records from our parents and listening again. I think I love the process of listening to vinyl. In this digital music age, for me, something is missing in the listening experience. Going to the store to pick up this record you’ve been wanting and being super excited to get home, unwrap it and play it. There was something sacred about it. I guess a lot of people feel that way. It’s been fun to reconnect to that feeling in me.
I remember Cat’s Records in Memphis, where I would always go to get new music. When I was in high school, I went there to buy my first Joni Mitchell record, and the guy working told me to get Ladies Of the Canyon. Such a cool choice and has always been an all-time favorite of mine. It was a dream come true when my first record came out and the cover was plastered on a billboard on the side of the building. I’ll never forget those days in Memphis where it all started.”
—Garrison Starr
“Growing up in Massachusetts as the child of two folk musicians I have many memories of our huge entertainment system in our living room constantly spinning vinyl.”
“Thriller. I wore that thing out and of course made it skip a lot as I tried to do all of Michael’s moves while listening to it. I would sit there, looking at the artwork, studying all the details. The white suit. A tiger. Why a tiger? I would smell the cardboard sleeve. The vinyl experience hits so many senses. The sound, the smell, the feel…it’s a whole experience. Some other records being played at the time would have been a lot of Springsteen, CSNY, Joni Mitchell, and Shawn Colvin to name a few.”
Then, of course, we switched to tapes and CDs and who knows what happened to the records. Yard sales I suppose. And our basement flooding claimed a chunk of the collection if I remember correctly. What a shame. I can’t talk about it.
Fast forward to becoming an adult myself and falling back in love with vinyl in my early 30s. I started with a cheap Sony turntable I bought at a secondhand store and started going to my local GoodWill for records. They were like a quarter a pop! And the selection was amazing! This was before it had the complete resurgence it now has. I could walk out of a thrift store with 20 or 30 records, in decent condition, for so little money. Now of course it’s slim pickings. I upgraded my turntable a few years back to a U-Turn Orbit and I absolutely love it.
In addition to the audio quality, my favorite thing about listening to records is that it’s an event. It’s a moment. You turn it on, pour a glass of wine or whisky, sit back, and enter into an experience. You’re not skipping around. It’s on. You let it ride and soak it in. You dance around your living room with your family. Maybe put on some Nat King Cole while you cook some dinner. It’s just different. It’s alive.”
—Sean McConnell
My Sister, My Brother’s self-titled debut 10″ EP is in stores now—on vinyl.
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PHOTO: JOSHUA BLACK WILKINS
