Kalispell, MT | Spinning vinyl and building community: For Bernard Jones, Slow Burn Records is more than just a place to buy music: it’s a hub for Northwest Montana’s vibrant music scene. “As much as it’s about the vinyl records, it’s more about having a safe haven for artists,” Jones said. “People are excited about it.” Jones is the general manager of the record store in Whitefish, which replaced local favorite Spanky’s and Gus after the shop closed its doors in 2021. When Slow Burn’s owners Mike and Dyan Colby heard Spanky’s planned on closing, the couple purchased the storefront and set out on revamping the space. Records of all genres line the bright storefront, which is decorated with bespoke furniture, instruments and neon signs. Customers can pop in a record at one of the store’s six listening stations, which allows music lovers to explore the wide-ranging collection. Jones said he has seen a renewed interest from young people in the old-fashioned way of listening.
Bristol, UK | Get to know: Collector Cave. Its true that vinyl is still an alive and kicking musical medium. Whether you’re a casual listener or a DJ, chances are that you or someone you know simply can’t get enough of those black waxy 12 inch discs. Yet, somehow, record stores themselves aren’t having the best luck of late. When Collector Cave was forced to close its doors in the Vintage Market at the bottom of Stokes Croft last year, it was a massive blow for the vinyl community. Easily one of Bristol’s top digging spots, you could guarantee with almost 100% certainty that you could go in there with a tenner and, with a keen ear, come out with two or three scorchers. However, all was not lost. The start of a new year brings with it new beginnings for the cave, as they open their new store, just a touch further up from the previous stomping ground, on Cheltenham Road, next to the Cloak and Dagger. I managed to grab them for a chat as they enter their first full month of business in the new gaff. We reminisced on the old store, looked into the future, and talked ice cream flavours.
AU | ‘So sad:” Aussies react to closure of iconic music retailer Sanity: The closure of iconic Aussie retailer Sanity has prompted a debate about whether physical stores are still needed in the streaming era. Iconic Australian music and entertainment retailer Sanity was there for vinyl records and cassette tapes, and for CDs and DVDs, but despite hanging on for so long, its stores have been unable to survive the streaming era. Earlier this week the company announced it was closing its physical doors and moving to become an online-only store. In response, Australians saddened by the news are sharing their fond memories of the chain, which opened its first Sanity-branded store in 1992 in Doncaster, Melbourne, but has a history that dates back to 1980. “This was the place I’d buy my CDs and CD singles from when I was a teenager,” one man from Canberra said. “I loved going in and seeing the top 20 albums of the week and the option of putting on the headphones to listen to an album before buying it. Thank you Sanity.”
Middlesbrough, UK | Turning tables: the UK’s new vinyl manufacturer riding the music revival: For the past year a Middlesbrough pressing plant has been helping artists make records, and there is no sign of demand slowing down. It only received its first pressing machines on Christmas Eve last year, but Press On Vinyl is well on its way to becoming the biggest manufacturer of vinyl records in the UK, already churning out about 3,000 a day and hoping to double that next year. The popularity of vinyl has soared in recent years – 2022 is expected to be yet another year with the highest sales since the early 1990s – and manufacturers have been unable to cope with demand. Taylor Swift’s Midnights has sold 80,000 copies on vinyl, more than any other album this century, helping to increase vinyl sales above those of CDs for the first time since the 1980s. “The demand for vinyls has increased dramatically in the last eight years, and existing plants haven’t managed to grow in tandem with it and new plants haven’t been able to set up in time,” said David Todd, who co-founded Press On Vinyl, in Middlesbrough, with Danny Lowe.
There have been countless books penned on the life, times, and music of Bob Dylan since he first burst onto the folk music scene of the early 1960s. There was Dylan’s own Chronicles, Volume One (2004), a seductively fascinating selected set of tales from his own life, and an arguably successful film by Todd Haynes called I’m Not There (2007), that depicted the wildly different phases of Bob Dylan’s life by casting wildly different actors for each version of Dylan—or each character inspired by him and his songs.
AU | So Long, Sanity: A Tribute To Iconic Music Chains: As another icon shuts its doors for good, we revisit HMV, Brashs, CC Music, Fish Records, Trax and more. …Record stores – retailers that sell recorded music in all its forms – have been around for as long as recorded music itself. In Australia some of the first were sheet music retailers like Allans Music, which also sold LPs, EPs and singles; most also selling musical instruments, parts and novelties – picks, strings, metronomes and that piano necktie or pencil set your music teacher pretended they liked every year. Music retailers were not just important for punters, but also for musicians. Of course, these were the libraries where eager students could take lessons home, but also where ‘hit parade’ music charts were distributed and literally made; so 
Sleaford, UK | Meet the married couple running a ‘half and half’ shared shop: It’s divided right down the middle. A married couple has fulfilled their dreams by taking over each half of a high street, selling records on one side and unique vintage fashion on the other. Paul and Andrea Clarke have set up their venture in a former tattoo parlour on West Gate in Sleaford, hoping to bring something new to the town. Paul, 61, runs Vinyl Resting Place, a creatively-named record shop that is 
Colorado Springs, CO | Music lovers find joy in new Colorado Springs record shop: Shawn Mayo had a hand-sketched drawing hanging on his refrigerator of the dream record shop he someday hoped to own. Twenty years later, he brought his drawing to life. Mayo and business partner Drew Morton opened Tiger Records last month, marking the inception of Colorado Springs’ newest record store among nearly a half dozen others, such as Earth Pig and What’s Left Records. The shop, tucked into a strip mall at 1625 W. Unitah St. on Colorado Springs’ west side, features an array of vintage vinyl, new releases, sound systems and rock memorabilia, such as posters and stickers. “I have been in the record business since 1985,” Mayo said. “I have worked for many record stores, most notably Independent Records here in town, for 23 years I worked for them.” But in March, Mayo said he was laid off from his job at Independent Records. Mayo saw it as an opportunity for him and Morton, a friend and record hunter, to start their store after they had acquired 
Knighton, UK | Sound of music set to be heard even more in town: Juke boxes, records and vintage items—the owners of a new Knighton shop are determined to bring the sound of music to the area. Mark Owen and Claire Williams opened Diesel Records shop on High Street recently. The couple have traded in records for about 12 years, both online and in retail, and they have had a few shops in South Wales. But when they moved to Knighton in the summer, their new home also came with a shop downstairs. As well as picking up some vinyl, shoppers can also browse through antiques, vintage items and collectibles in the adjoined Rebel Vintage part of the store. 
