“It may sound crazy to a lot of people, but I grew up in a town without a real record store.”
“Laredo, Texas had one shop in the mall that sold a limited amount of music along with other electronics. It was a small town with not many shopping resources. That isolation creates an intense desire to seek music out. It would only be on family trips to San Antonio, TX that I would spend every dime I saved to hit stores like CD Exchange or Hogwild Records or Warehouse Music. Then on the ride home I could listen to all this new treasure.
That was small town life, pre-internet. Everything has changed except the joy that comes from discovering new music. Record stores still have a tremendous impact. A few years ago, I was at Grimey’s record shop here in Nashville, near my house. An employee named Noah was familiar with an old band I played in and recommended a band he thought I would like. They didn’t have anything available, but a reissue was coming soon. That band was the Ghetto Brothers, and that recommendation made a huge impact on me.
I had just started a project called Spanish Gold and we were in the studio. I became obsessed with the album Power Fuerza by the Ghetto Brothers. So much in fact that it completely altered the course for the songs I was writing. For Record Store Day that year we recorded a cover of the Ghetto Brothers’ song “There is Something in My Heart” for a 7″ record and it was available at Grimey’s. That was a full circle experience that I will always remember. None of that would have happened without Noah and Grimey’s record shop.
There is still a place for record stores, even if it means thinking beyond brick and mortar retail. In many cases the future seems to be in mobile retail. Mobile record shops I think are a great concept. Most of the records I buy today happen to be at shows as well.
It will never die so long as there is quality music being made.”
—Dante Schwebel
The debut self-titled record from Rumba Shaker is in stores now via Dine Alone Records.
