Before the days of listening to music on AirPods, before Spotify, before even the MP3 player, there was vinyl — and it just might be coming back.
Record Store Day will be celebrated at All Day Records on April 13 with storewide discounts, live music and DJs who will play sets in the store throughout the day.
All Day Records is a record store in downtown Carrboro, but to Grace Bowman, one of the DJs who will be performing, it’s more than a place to buy music.
“All Day Records is a very special record store for a lot of reasons — it’s just an important facet to the local music scene," Bowman said. "I want to make sure it’s around as long as it can be, anytime I can do anything to show my support for it then I will do that.”
Bowman’s album collection span electronic music to gospel, but two of her favorite albums, Everyone Alive Wants Answers by Colleen and Like A Ship Without A Sail by Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir, were bought at All Day Records.
Al Riggs is a local musician who lives in Durham, and they will be playing live music at All Day Records during their tour for Record Store Day.
“I will say that the real joy in record listening is the deeper feeling of interaction,” Riggs said. “Meaning of course you're sitting down or doing things while the thing is playing, and then you have to get up and flip the thing, look at the cover, look at the center label art, etc.”
16.8 million albums vinyl albums were sold last year, marking the 13th year of consecutive growth for the format, and part of the appeal for vinyl could come from being able to have something to hold.
“It’s just something you really have to put yourself into because it’s a big chunk of wax ... and you actually get to hold it, and take a little bit more time with it, rather than a CD or a digital download, you can just do those any day," said Michael Wood, a resident of Carrboro who owned a record store in South Carolina. "Records is a little more of a commitment, and I’m into that.”
