“I’m 25, was originally born in Latvia, grew up in the New Jersey / New York area and now live in Nashville. And to be quite honest, vinyl did not play a big role in my childhood. Music definitely did—my dad’s a singer and guitar player and music’s always been a big part of my life. But I didn’t own any vinyl until I moved to Nashville and bought my first record player.”
“I have one of those Crosley record players—it’s kind of like a mini-suitcase. There’s a place right down the street from where I live in East Nashville called The Groove and I went there the day I arrived in town and bought 20 different records from their dollar bin.
Now I have a pretty big record collection for a person who only really started collecting a year ago. Some of my favorites include Aretha Franklin’s I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Dizzy Gillespie’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods and The Beatles’ Abbey Road. My favorite time to play vinyl is waking up kind of late on a Sunday and putting on that Dizzy Gillespie record and just cooking all day… that’s my all-time favorite thing to do.
A good friend of mine, Brad Allen Williams, recently put out a really cool jazz record titled Lamar. We ran into each other at a party and he gave me a copy, and I love it. My friends inspire me every day.
It’s really awesome that vinyl is seeing a boost because music sounds so different on vinyl. Claude [Kelly] and Chuck [Harmony] who run Weirdo Workshop, the label I’m signed to, came to visit me in Nashville. It was a Sunday night, I cooked them dinner and I put on the Aretha record while I was cooking and they freaked out. You can actually hear every nuance of the record. It’s a completely different listening experience.
My perfect date, especially now since it’s getting colder outside, would be to go to a nice music venue or an intimate little bar with couches and a fireplace and listen to Elis Regina or Getz/Gilberto.”
—Masha
