Inside Vinyl Tap
Here’s one way to counteract the music streaming landscape becoming increasingly dystopian: Build out a collection of physical media. This holiday season, treat the music fan in your life to some new vinyl! From the exclusive releases available during special shopping hours on Friday, Nov. 28, for Record Store Day Black Friday to quality vintage selections, Nashville’s panoply of independent record stores has you and your music-lovin’ loved ones covered.
We’ll start our tour on the West Side at McKay’s (636 Old Hickory Blvd.), which does not participate in RSD Black Friday; they’ll be open regular hours Friday and Saturday. Alison’s Record Shop (994A Davidson Drive) will not have RSD exclusives but will be offering 15 percent off all weekend, with extended hours 10 a.m to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Phonoluxe (2609 Nolensville Pike) does not carry RSD exclusives but will stock new inventory of quality used vinyl for the big shopping weekend. Analog Your Life (2546 Lebanon Pike) will offer a limited selection of RSD exclusives, plus DJs, giveaways and a half-price sale on all used vinyl priced at $5 and under.
Third Man Records’ storefront (623 Seventh Ave. S.) carries only releases from their label, so they won’t have RSD exclusives. However, they will have an online sale from Monday, Nov. 24, through Monday, Dec. 1, with a 15 percent discount on select LPs, merch, pedals and books and 10 percent off the TMR Iomoapparat camera and film. Also, new treats are incoming: Limited quantities of The White Stripes’ The Complete Studio Albums Boxset — featuring all six records on 180-gram red-and-white vinyl plus previously unseen photos — will be available in person on RSDBF (while online orders won’t ship until next year). Karly Hartzman and MJ Lenderman Live at Third Man Records, recorded at The Blue Room in 2024, will also be available that day.
Hopping over the Cumberland, Grimey’s (1060 E. Trinity Lane) will have a wide variety of RSD exclusives, offered up in their typical menu-style format. Shoppers hoping to snag some of the new releases can queue up outside the store’s back door. They’ll open an hour early at 10 a.m. for the early birds and move the releases inside once the crowd has dissipated.
Elevator Vinyl (inside Lykke Haus, 490 E. Trinity Lane) won’t have any RSD exclusives or special sales this time, but they plan to drop a recently acquired jazz collection including original pressings and rare titles. Check out the store’s Instagram account for a teaser video.
Daydream Records (1006 Fatherland St., No. 104A) specializes in used vinyl, so they don’t carry RSD releases. Hot on the heels of their one-year anniversary, they’ll have some special rare finds dropping throughout the day on Black Friday during their normal operating hours, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Vinyl Tap (2038 Greenwood Ave.) will offer RSD exclusives and extensive sales on their regular inventory — in store and online — through Nov. 30. Used inventory as well as new CDs will be 15 percent off; signed records will be 25 percent off; specialty picture discs, 7-inch and 10-inch vinyl will be 30 percent off; and box sets will be 40 percent off. Cyber Monday (Dec. 1) will bring additional sales to the webstore, with 30 percent off restocks, signed records, 7-inch and 10-inch vinyl and picture discs; 40 percent off box sets; and 20 percent off everything else. As usual, there will be plenty of music to hear throughout the weekend, with WXNA DJs spinning Friday evening, karaoke Saturday night, and Stringjoy Presents: Noah Gunderson’s Cheap Date on Sunday.
Don’t see your favorite store listed? These events have tons of moving parts, and some stores didn’t get back to us in time to get details in print. Keep an eye on social media for updated information from all your favorite spots, including The Groove, The Great Escape’s three area locations (the Charlotte Avenue flagship, the recently relocated Madison store and the Murfreesboro shop), Swaggie Records, Jimbo’s, and the newly reopened Ernest Tubb Record Shop.
Among this Black Friday round of Record Store Day exclusives, there’s a thing or five for just about every kind of listener. We’re focusing on titles that will be for sale only in indie shops on Black Friday, but there are also plenty of RSD-first releases that will be more widely available later. As always, the complete list of releases is available for your perusing pleasure on the Record Store Day website.
Why not pick up a new Christmas record to spin while you trim the tree? Options include Devo’s “Merry Something to You” 12-inch maxi-single picture disc, a 7-inch with Kesha’s cover of “Holiday Road” (including her 2010 YouTube rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” on the B-side), or the classic Vince Guaraldi Trio soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas in a special 60th anniversary pop-up gatefold package.
If you want to shop what’s capital-P Popular, check out backflipper Benson Boone’s Pulse EP, a 7-inch featuring Chappell Roan’s ’80s-inspired ballad “The Subway” backed with her countrified “The Giver,” and the eagerly awaited soundtrack to Wicked: For Good as a two-LP picture disc set. There are also Crosley turntables for those on Santa’s Wicked list: one in Glinda pink and another in Elphaba emerald green.
Hip-hop offerings include the first vinyl release of GloRilla’s Ehhthang Ehhthang mixtape and a 20th anniversary edition of dynamic trio Little Brother’s The Minstrel Show. Fans of country and the country-adjacent have plenty of options, from Sierra Ferrell’s acclaimed Trail of Flowers on a picture disc and the special Last Call edition of Morgan Wade’s The Party Is Over to Jelly Roll’s deluxe Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up the Pieces) and Post Malone’s Long Bed, a collection of previously digital exclusive tracks from the deluxe version of F-1 Trillion.
There’s a bevy of live albums on the list too, including titles from Cage the Elephant, Alice Cooper, Miles Davis, Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Briston Maroney and The Ramones (at CBGB!). There’s also The Original Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (with songs cut from the landmark 1963 release restored to the track list) and Joni Mitchell’s Rolling Thunder Revue — we could go on. Go flip through some records, support an indie record store and find the perfect gift for someone you love.
