Memphis Record Stores – Memphis Flyer

At one time, A. Schwab General Store and Soda Fountain was the only store open for business on Beale Street. Founded in 1876, it has been in continuous business since then, and is still independently owned, with two Schwab family members still on staff. It has been closed for business only twice: during the Yellow Fever epidemic of the late 1800’s and during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It only makes sense, then, for the establishment to champion all things Memphis. And if you’re on Beale Street, Memphis means music. The store has carried records since the 1930s, and has a large collection of vintage records once sold there, including “Crazy Blues” by Mamie Smith, arguably the first blues record ever recorded. Indeed, A. Schwab’s archives pre-date the age of phonography, holding several player piano rolls, including W. C. Handy’s “Beale Street Blues,” and numerous examples of sheet music.

In keeping with this fine legacy, the store has announced a significant new focus on such holdings, the “Memphis Music Vinyl” department, to be celebrated in a special event, an official Record Store Day Launch Party on June 12th, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., staged in partnership with Shangri-La Records. The event will include door prizes, special event sales, an exclusive ticketed evening concert AND free chocolate “45 rpm records” made by Memphis chocolatiers Dinstuhls to be given to the first 45 people purchasing vinyl.

Terry Saunders, owner of A. Schwab’s, first contacted local musician Amy LaVere about the idea of expanding the music department. “Jake [Saunders] and I are so in love with the rich music history of Memphis, as well as the depth and breadth of talent in the contemporary music scene,” she says. “We felt it should be showcased in vinyl in keeping with the store’s long history of selling records.”

Consulting Shangri-La Record’s John Miller, and other Memphis music aficionados such as It Came From Memphis writer Robert Gordon, and label owner Bruce Watson (Fat Possum, Big Legal Mess, Bible & Tire Recording), LaVere curated the new “All Memphis Then and Now” vinyl record collection and it is impressive. No genre or era is left behind.

The special ticketed event begins at 5 pm and features a live interview and brief performance by Gospel Soul artist Elizabeth King, hosted by charismatic WYXR DJ Reverend Juan D. Shipp. Elizabeth King’s latest release Living In The Last Days recently reached #2 on the Billboard Blues Charts. At 77 years old, the gospel singer and mother of 15 children has a fascinating life story, recently detailed in this Memphis magazine profile.

Ms. King will be followed by John Paul Keith, who will be playing songs from his stellar brand new LP release, The Rhythm Of The City.

Tickets for the special event can be purchased directly through Amy LaVere, via A. Schwab’s General Store.

MIchael Donahue

Eric Friedl and Zac Ives of Goner Records

Over the years, Record Store Day (RSD) has become one of those rare commercial “holidays” that have a real sense of community to them. Even as vinyl sales have grown in recent years, there is a camaraderie among the artists, fans, and retailers of LPs that is almost contagious.

Now, with contagion at the front of everyone’s mind, that is an enthusiasm that needs to be handled carefully. Memphis’ two primary record shops, Shangri-La Records and Goner Records, have each come up with their own solutions to the conundrum of how to celebrate vinyl en masse without violating social distancing guidelines.

Shangri-La, for example, will make use of its ample parking space. As their website explains, “you will be able to line up outside in the parking lot areas that will be marked six feet apart. It is IMPERATIVE that you stay on the demarcated space as we let one customer (plus anyone with whom that customer co-habitates) in the store to shop at a time.

“Each shopper will have an individual time of ten minutes to shop the RSD bins, make selections, and check out. After that, the next customer enters and it will continue in that fashion until 1 pm. After 1 pm, we will begin allowing customers to make individual appointments as we have been. Instead of 45 minute appointments, however, we will be limiting them to 20 minutes each to allow for additional Record Store Day shopping.”
J.D. Reager

Jared McStay, co-owner of Shangri-La Records

Of course, masks will be required throughout the process, and anyone who’s been in contact with someone who has symptoms should stay home. Given the idyllic weather of late, it promises to be an enjoyable outing for all.

Goner Records, meanwhile, has a more elaborate plan: a lottery for the first customers served on RSD. And today is your last chance to sign up for it. As co-owner Zac Ives explains:

We thought, maybe we can just dovetail this with things we’re trying to do with Goner TV. And do the best we can in a weird situation. So we came up with this goofy idea to have everybody sign up. We’ll do a random lottery for the order, and then we’ll have four phones set up and we’ll just start calling everybody, going down this list, pulling records for them, wrapping them up in a bag, and they can come pick it up later in the day.

We will have an emcee, cutting in live from the shop in our broadcast. So people can see where we are on the roll of numbers. We’re gonna make it as fun as we can. We’ll have a box of doughnuts and some coffee. Trying to keep everybody going from 9:00 until noon. And then at twelve, we’ll turn everything over to the website. Everything that’s left at that point will go up on our online store and people can order from there. But to be in that first three hours, you’ve gotta be signed up by Tuesday.

Instead of all the RSD releases coming out at once, they spread it out over three months, I guess with the idea that that would lessen any kind of mob. We don’t want to have a ton of people in one place, and maybe this is a way to spread that out on the shop side. So the releases will be split into thirds, the last Saturday of August, September, and October.

Goner is not releasing any RSD albums. We do have pre-orders up for the Archaeas record and the Optic Sink record. The Rev. John Wilkins CD is coming out in September, but the LP is delayed until November, and we’ll have a pre-order of that available as well.

Explaining the process, Ives can barely suppress his air of amusement. “It seemed funny to us, the whole telethon nature of it.” There’s no telling what shenanigans could occur, so tune in and find out, even if you miss today’s deadline. See the Goner Records website for details.