Every Day is Record Store Day in Asheville, N.C.

Saturday afternoon I went out to celebrate Record Store Day, an annual event designed to raise awareness of independently owned record stores. In Asheville, N.C., we have multiple locally owned record stores, some of which are doing quite well as businesses and all of which are considered valuable members of the community. The big cheese is Harvest Records in West Asheville but, on a beautiful, cool yet sunny Saturday afternoon, the place to be is North Lexington Street with two locally owned record stores on the same block.

I put on my Gate City Noise T-shirt, a memento of a long since shuttered record store in Greensboro, N.C., and headed out to have a great afternoon. Little did I know that I should have headed to West Asheville if I really wanted to experience a local Record Store Day celebration.

When I got to the North Lexington area of downtown Asheville, with its vibrant mix of vintage clothing stores, coffee and tea houses, international restaurants and even a chocolate shop, the sidewalks were packed with both locals and tourists alike. My first stop was a record store that had previously announced plans to celebrate Record Store Day but when I walked in it seemed like business as usual.

I chatted for a bit with the co-owner, who's a really nice guy that loves vinyl, and found out that he had been out of town and just hadn't had time to arrange the previously announced live music event. Though he was friendly enough, his lack of interest in the subject was disappointing. I had hoped for a bit more enthusiasm given the financial difficulties I knew this store was facing.

Yet the store was full of shoppers and the thought crossed my mind that, at least when the weather's nice, every day is Record Store Day in Asheville given the strong emphasis to shop locally and the diverse music scene. So I went a few doors down to North Lexington's other record store, which is well-stocked with vinyl record selections, and asked if they were doing anything for Record Store Day.

The jaded looking clerk responded, "like what"? After a brief tense exchange, I tried to lighten the vibe with my new line, "well, I guess everyday is Record Store Day in Asheville", which was received with a blank stare as if we were in some movie parodying hostile record store employees. Another shopper asked about a limited regional release by Hank Williams III and was told that they didn't have it.

I then struck up a brief conversation with my fellow shopper about what was happening at Harvest Records. As it turns out, he had gotten in line at 8 am in the hopes of getting that Hank III release but Harvest Records had none. However, they did have numerous other limited releases for Record Store Day and, having just expanded and remodeled, had an amazing selection of unique vinyl offerings.

Feeling a bit disgruntled, I bid the hostile clerk adieu and walked home. With the afternoon running short and other plans ahead, I had no time to visit Harvest Records where, in addition to "carrying as many copies of as many R.S.D.-only releases" as they could, they also had their "LARGEST EVER $1 RECORD SALE!" going on to celebrate the day. Not only that, they had hot dogs!

Clearly I had miscalculated but next year I'll know where to go when it's time to celebrate Record Store Day.