Sophie Burt is a second-year student at Saint Michael’s College studying Digital Media, Communications, and Marketing, with a special interest in photography and videography. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Sweet jazz from Woody Shaw’s Blackstone Legacy drifts through Autumn Records on a recent spring afternoon. It’s a current favorite of owner Greg Davis, and it fills the store. In one corner of the shop, a customer tries out a used vinyl, and in another a woman browses through hundreds of records. The floor-to-ceiling windows facing Winooski Circle let sunshine pour in as customers flip through Davis’s collection, seeking the next vinyl gem to add to their collection.
Autumn Records sells country, jazz, folk, electronic, and more, but Davis says the most visited section of the store is the pop and rock music section. As April 20 approaches, Autumn Records, like many independent vinyl stores across the country, prepares for one of its busiest days, Record Store Day, when limited editions abound.
Davis spent most of his life in Burlington, where his love for music, specifically vinyl records, bloomed. A musician himself, he produces typically in the electronic, abstract, or ambient music genres. “Music has been massively important to me,” Davis says.
What is Record Store Day?
It’s a national day that has been going on for around 17 years. The idea is to celebrate your local record store. An organization called Record Store Day organizes special and exclusive vinyl releases that are only available on Record Store Day. Over the last 10 years, it’s become quite a big thing. We get a ton of records in and people get excited. A lot of the releases are limited edition or exclusive and that’s the only time you can get it. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun.
What’s your day like on Record Store Day?
There are probably like 20 people waiting to get in. First come first serve. We open at 10 a.m. and they come rushing in and everyone tries to get what they want. I tell people we don’t get all of the Record Store Day titles but we try to get stuff that people want. It stays busy for the whole day. It’s usually like three or four bins full of vinyl so it’s not a ton.
How do you determine what records you are going to order from the Record Store Day organization?
There are two criteria. If it is something I think is interesting or cool I’ll carry that. Or number two, if I think my customers would want to buy it or if it’s a popular title. The other thing is once they put that list out then customers will contact me saying I’m looking to get this, so I’ll order that too.
So, the records have never been released?
Some of the music has been released before but this is a new version of it — a special version of a record, or sometimes they’ll do a colored vinyl. And there’s stuff that hasn’t been released before. It is a mix of older reissued albums and newer albums and artists. A little bit of everything.
Since Noah Kahan has become popular in the past few years and he’s from Vermont, have you noticed more people coming in to find his albums?
For sure. This has happened before with Grace Potter, where you get a local musician from Vermont and then they blow up and get popular. He’s the next iteration of that. The record label wasn’t catching up to the demand.
We sell his records a lot and there are two Noah Kahan things for record store day. Those will be big titles for us this year.
Does Taylor Swift have anything coming out on April 20?
No, but her new album is coming out the day before Record Store Day so it’ll kind of tie into the day. We will get the new album on the Friday before Record Store Day. We sell a lot of her stuff here. Since we’ve opened the store she’s just become more and more popular.
What is your favorite record/song right now?
Every week it changes to something new. My favorite newest record is Alice Coltrane’s Concert from 1971 that just got issued onto vinyl for the first time ever and it’s phenomenal.
What is your favorite way to listen?
I will take music any way I can get it.
I mostly listen to vinyl but I still listen to CDs a lot at home. Mostly, I use streaming to check newer stuff out or if I’m curious about something. If it’s something I really like I’ll maybe get the vinyl or get the CD. But I’ll take music any way I can get it, every way I can get it.
How do you think music has impacted your life?
It’s the main thing in my life; it’s been massively important to me. I don’t know what I would do without it. I’ve been kind of obsessed with music since I was a kid. This is a great extension of that. The other is presenting live music and making my own music. That is a way I like to share my passion.
How do you recommend someone gets started in the vinyl community?
If someone comes in and is like, “I want to get into vinyl, what should I do?” I usually tell them, “Let’s get you set up with a record player” and we see what works with their budget. Then they can start buying records.
In this shop, we have everything from records that cost a dollar all the way up to $200 or more. There’s stuff in here for serious collectors but then there’s stuff for people who just want to get some cheap records and check stuff out.
That’s how I started. I had a local record store in the town I grew up in and I would just buy records for a dollar that looked cool and then I would listen to it and some of them I didn’t like and some of them became my favorite albums ever. A big part of record shopping is discovery.
Do you think you can impact other people’s lives?
The main reason we’re here is to share music and share our excitement and love of it with other people, and also help people either discover new things or find the thing they’re really excited about. Like, “Oh hey I’m looking for this one record and wondering if you can get it for us,” and we’re like, “If you like this record you should check this one out.”
There’s a human kind of knowledge and element you won’t get with streaming. A lot of the algorithms have become really good at suggesting music but it doesn’t quite match the personal connection.
The other thing I’ve always loved about record stores is the social aspect of it. The community aspect getting people together and all of the conversations we have about music. We encourage people to come in here and hang out, look at records and listen to some records and talk to us about stuff. I’m super happy here.