Memphis Record Stores

[stewmac]

Following on from my LA To Vegas thread ,now managed to convince the wife to take a trip to Memphis n Nashville (gonna unleash the inner redneck in me) found a thread on Nashville so just looking for info on Memphis and even places close by like Jackson ,looking for 50s & 60s so rockabilly & early Rnb cool as well as 60s soul n Rnb .

thanks

Edited May 23, 2011 by stewmac

[Sean Hampsey]

Shangri la and Goner Records are well worth a visit.

Sean

[stewmac]

thanks Sean ,found Shangri La via Google ,are there cheap stuff to be found then ? Im not bothered bout big ticket items more cheap good stuff in abundance ,unlike here in Australia where this is jack $hit for big ticket prices

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

thanks Sean ,found Shangri La via Google ,are there cheap stuff to be found then ? Im not bothered bout big ticket items more cheap good stuff in abundance ,unlike here in Australia where this is jack $hit for big ticket prices

Shangri-La and Goner are both nice shops run by very nice people, and deserve your patronage while you're in Memphis. They both do have some big ticket stuff, but they are also great on reasonably priced records that are worth owning...

River Records, on the other hand is worth avoiding like the plague. It's in a not-so-nice part of town and the guy who runs it is a 24 carat asshole, with lots of unpriced stock and no idea what any of it's worth. You take your pile of 45s to the counter, he gets out his copies of Brown & Koppell, Manship, Goldmine and any other collector guide that he's managed to accumulate and then goes through them all looking for the highest price, which then becomes his price (in dollars). His shop is dirty, and smells of cat's pee (he's got about 5 of them). The chances of your finding a bargain are next to none, and you'll come away feeling like you need to head for the nearest shower...

On the plus side, if you have the patience and you can pull out some records that you know full well aren't in any price guides, you will get them for between five and eight bucks.

And if you have time to spare, it's always fun to go through and pull things like Gilbert O'Sullivan demos and take them to the counter to be 'priced' - and then say 'no thank you'!

These are bout the only real collectors shops in Memphis, although there are other shops that have a selection of vnyl, mostly used LPs.

In Nashville, there's really only The Great Escape that turns over any used 45s now. Their long established shop on Broadway is now closed but they have a big store in East Nashville that's OK, and another one in Madison, just North of Nashville, that used to be OK but that had the same 45s when I was there in January that they had when I was there in March 2010. PhonoLuxe still has the same stock of singles that it had 10 years ago, only it's now been turned over so many times that it's just not worth bothering with.

Both cities are great places to get a nice meal, though!

[Md Records]

Don't forget the Stax museum (no records to buy unfortunately ),but well, well worth a visit!!

Des

Edited May 23, 2011 by SOUL.INC

[stewmac]

Thanks for the replies I thought phonolux was good for early rnb I heard that from another thread on here I'd be more lookin at rnb than soul which maybe more accesable hopefully based on a slightly lesser demand

[Guest TONY ROUNCE]

Thanks for the replies I thought phonolux was good for early rnb I heard that from another thread on here I'd be more lookin at rnb than soul which maybe more accesable hopefully based on a slightly lesser demand

PhonoLuxe isn't good for singles at all - never has been really, it's always had plenty of albums and singles but the stock hasn't changed much in the past 25 years, and the singles are all getting rather sleeveless and dog-eared now. There's not likely to be much R&B among the residue of what was once a fairly impressive vinyl stock - early or otherwise - although Nashville was itself a big town for R&B. When I was there last year I had what I promised myself would be my final trawl through the whole of the singles stock. I found two records, neither of which were things I particularly needed....

Not trying to put you off, but please do bear in mind that cities like Nashville and Memphis are a magnet for record collectors. The stocks of any shop worth its salt are gone through on an almost daily basis, by both local collectors and visitors from all over, and your expectations of finding anything stupidly rare should be very low indeed....

Edited May 23, 2011 by TONY ROUNCE

[Kris Holmes]

exactly, those places get covered for records pretty well. Put a day aside for the 45s at Shangri-La (I've done really well there). Check out the Stax Museum, Memphis Rock & Soul Museum, Sun Studios, take a Memphis Rock Tour & also the Civil Rights Museum. Lots of awesome stuff to do in Memphis, just make sure not to go walking anywhere sketchy after dark

As far as Nashville goes, I'd almost say you'd get better R&B 45s out of the back of Hound Dog's in Melbourne than any place in Nashville But hey, you never know, enjoy the trip!

[Sean Hampsey]

Hound Dogs in Melbourne... Boy, I scored big time there some 15 years ago! Thanks for the memory!

:0)

Sean