“The best part of the vinyl revival is that revealing you have an affinity for vinyl doesn’t mean you have to share your age. My musical journey begins with vinyl and a particular record I purchased back in 1971 as a 7 year old boy. Let It Be, The Beatles.”
“My father was headed to purchase new speakers for the small and humble stereo system in our apartment. At the time, my father was a surgical resident at Georgetown University and didn’t make much money. But he loved music, and I suppose that’s where my love comes from. He took my sister and I along with him.
When we arrived at the store, he told my sister and me to go the record bins and pick out one record each. There was one record that caught my eye, and it was Let It Be. I knew absolutely NOTHING about the Beatles, only that they looked cool and I wanted to be like them. So I picked the album and went to meet my father who was now standing in line to pay for his purchase. Right about that time my sister came with her pick. A Partridge Family record.
Well, those guys I had heard of. I had seen them on television. I immediately told my father that I wanted a Partridge Family record and wanted to put this other record back and switch. He was next in line to pay so he told me no, that the record I had picked was the one going home. Good thing too because I still have Let It Be forty six years later, and to this date no one knows what became of the Partridge Family!
Records were an escape for me. I would spend hours listening to them rather than doing homework. They ultimately led me to pick up the guitar. From there it was game set and match. I knew I wanted to be a musician. Real life, however, got in the way pretty fast. As the son of immigrants from Colombia, my choices were med school or law school. But even through law school I never lost my passion for records or live music. It was around that time that I switched from vinyl to CDs. And it was a fellow lawyer who got me back into playing music eleven years ago. But now that vinyl is back, I’m stoked.
When making my new record, my producer Bob Rupe mixed the entire project on a console, bounced it down to tape, and then mastered it on the computer. But my master mixes are on tape and a vinyl release may well be in the future!
As my father taught me to love music, my own daughter has caught the bug. She enjoys vinyl and has helped herself to some of my favorite records from my collection.
I am trying to get my music played in Colombia, which brings us full circle to Let It Be. Back in February I was interviewed by a DJ from Radionica Radio Station. The studio was next to a café. The café had four portraits hanging on the wall—the Beatles from Let It Be. It was as if they were there telling me to open that door, that all was going to be right. It looks like John, Paul, George, and Ringo were right all along.”
—Paulo Franco
Paulo Franco’s The Last Card is in stores now.
Paulo Franco Official | Facebook | Twitter
