Record Store Day: Fredericksburg Spins Saturday

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — For those of a certain age, do you remember when 8-track tapes, then cassette tapes and then compact discs were deemed to be the future of quality music and that traditional vinyl records were doomed to go the way of, say, the car bag phone? Yeah, well, a lot of folks will tell you there's nothing quite like the rich and deep sound of vinyl records, and a lot of those same folks happen to own or work in still-standing record stores and are ready to celebrate "Record Store Day" Saturday.

The Fredericksburg area has several shops with vinyl offerings, including something of a hybrid that will be official participant in Record Store Day: Blue Shark Antiques & Collectibles, 904-908 Caroline Street (540-373-5873). The family owned business has a wide variety of things but also buys and sell vinyl records.

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Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to "celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the United States and thousands of similar stores internationally."

Newsweek had a great piece a couple of years ago with the headline: "Why Vinyl Has Made a Comeback." And the New York Times had a good read about record-pressing machines "coming back to life."

Click here for a list of stores throughout the nation (and the world) taking part in Record Store Day.

Image via Record Store Day