Here are some record collecting tips to help you get started building your record collection:

• Create a list of albums that you would like to own. Visit online retailers and online auction sites and look for the albums.
• Look for records at antique shops and also at flea markets.
• Stop at yard sales and garage sales to see if the person is selling any records.
• Visit stores that sell used music (CDs, tapes, records, etc.)

Above all, when starting a record collection, you must be persistent in your search. Although it might take you years to find a favorite album, your hard work will likely pay off in the end.

(photo credit: ryanchirnomas)

• Keep your vinyl records inside their protective sleeves. For the most protection, make sure the sleeves are stored in the album jackets. If you don’t have an album jacket or a sleeve for a record, buy a replacement.
• Always store your records side by side (vertically), not one on top of another. Stacking vinyl records can cause them to bend. Keep your records in a cool, dry place. Your vinyl records should never be stored in direct sunlight or extreme temperatures. The ideal temperature for record storing is 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Though you might be tempted, don’t touch the grooves of your records.

Have any other tips on caring for vinyl records?

Share your tips here.

(photo credit: fensterbme)

You’d take off your shoes and lie on the floor or on the bed in your big brother’s room, which had the only stereo in the house, and turn up the sound while you looked at all of the pictures. Sometimes there was an extra treat inside, like a poster.

Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, The Clash, Blondie and David Bowie all came to life through the small, tinny speakers that came attached to your all-in-one record player (unless you had those giant speakers, or else the big bulky headphones you wore late at night because you were supposed to be sleeping).

There were lyrics, usually, and pictures of the band on the road, the band in the studio, the band on stage, the band on drugs.

As the music played you’d sing along with the lyrics and be in absolute heaven. Until, of course, Side A ended and you had to get up to flip the record. CDs are just not quite the same experience. Sure, you can unfold the liner notes, but often the writing’s too small to actually read. It’s just not the same squinting over a tiny picture of David Bowie and using a magnifying glass to read the lyrics, while holding the whole thing in one hand. There’s no scratchy warmth. You can’t watch it go around; you don’t even really know how it’s all happening.

I have a reverence for records, if you haven’t caught on to that yet. It was with this sense of reverence that I recently brought out the album “Gord’s Gold” by Gordon Lightfoot that I bought a few years ago at a used record store for $6.95. Not a bad deal for a really good sound. “Gord’s Gold” is a double album and features a larger-than-life close up of Gord’s head in the 1970s on the cover. Try that on the front of a CD.

There’s nothing like listening to “Sundown” on a record. Every acoustic instrument is crystal clear, and the overall sound is deep and warm. To me, the sound of a CD or digital recording is more compressed; the highs aren’t as high and the lows not as low.

I like to think of records as more organic. Kind of like Gord himself. Although I have started collecting CDs as well, I’d never trade my records for CDs. You can’t listen to records in the car, or while jogging, or surreptitiously during class. You have to listen to them like someone who actually has time to listen to records. But if we didn’t have all of these on-the-go ways to listen to music, maybe we’d actually take the time out to lie on the floor for 45 minutes every now and then.

That might not be a bad thing at all.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: fensterbme)

Girlyman consists of two women–Doris Muramatsu and Ty Greenstein–and a man Nate Borofsky (hence the name). I’m not going to go with the “part so-and-so, part whosewhatsit” paradigm here. I’m just going to tell you that they’re folky and good and young and cute and you should listen to them if you like the Indigo Girls or The Roches. (”Huh?” you say, if you’re under a certain age. OK, I’ll blog about them next) or any number of really good folky and original bands who are also cute.

When my friend first brought over a Girlyman song for me to listen to I was quite impressed. I’m saving up for a CD, but what I heard so far incorporates electric and acoustic guitar, drums and mandolin. Their three-part harmonies are refreshingly juicy and their lyrics are heartfelt. I especially like the song “Viola”. I really dig lyrics that are about someone’s specific life experience yet somehow convey a universal thought or feeling, and they manage to do this. Overproduced they are not. Their sound is great. I expect they’ll gain in popularity and start touring heavily. (Currently they play at smaller venues, such as The Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.an old haunt of mine. Try and hear them in one of these intimate places before they get all big.) Oh, sorry, but I haven’t seen any evidence that they have anything on actual vinyl.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: mirandala)

When I first heard “Running on Empty” as a mere whippersnapper I was fascinated by the instrumentation, Jackson’s soulful voice and by the energy of a live record. And of course there were the pictures. Open up the album and you get a big booklet with all the road photos and when you’re a kid you think, wow, I want to be just like them. I want to rehearse with my band in a messy studio and play outside for thousands of people, just me and my guitar.

Now I look at it and go, wow, those guys were young. But Jackson is still putting out great music. His recent volumes of live acoustic songs are called Solo Acoustic Volume 1 and 2. I haven’t heard the second yet, but the first is a gem. He plays a lot of his really old songs. Among my favorites are “These Days,” just himself on acoustic guitar, and “For a Dancer,” which he plays on the piano. He’s really an amazing all-around musician.

He’s transposed many of his songs down a few half-steps to match his ever-deepening voice, but he still sounds great and tells a couple of really funny stories and makes some good cracks on the album. If you’re a fan of Jackson Browne from the old days and you haven’t caught onto this album yet, my advice is to run out and get it.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: mmewuji)

I’m always looking for bands or singer-songwriters who utilize acoustic instruments, sing well–or at least interestingly–and write good lyrics.

The Weepies are refreshing. Their guitar work combines acoustic fingerpicking with tasteful, clear electric licks. I am enchanted by Deb Talan’s voice. When I first heard her sing “Painting by Chagall,” I was hooked. She’s got a different thing going on.

If you go to their Web site, you can listen to a bunch of songs for free - they come on automatically. Deb and the other member of the Weepies, Steve Tannen, are married (or as Wikipedia says, “currently married”) and have a new baby boy named Theo. From what I can gather from listening to the albums, “Happiness” and “Say I am You” (I admit I have no liner notes), it seems like they each write most of their own lyrics.

Most of Talan’s songs are upbeat; Tannen is more brooding. But they make a good match, and his songs are as alluring as hers, although in a different way. He brings a bit of a mainstream pop sound to the band, while Deb is more out there on her own.

I await the arrival of their forthcoming album, which I hear will be released any day.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: sarahfelicity)

She’s another good one if you want to hear a good singer/songwriter, and I’m excited I’m going to get to see her. The minute she started playing I thought of Suzanne Vega, who I just heard on the radio show Mountain Stage. Suzanne is a poet who just happens to be a really great singer and musician. She has a new album out, which I have not heard yet but I look forward to it.

My favorites by her are the two produced by ex-hubby Mitchell Froom - check out “99.9″ and “Nine Objects of Desire” if you haven’t already. But her earlier albums are really great too: “Solitude Standing” is one of my all-time favorite records. Getting back to Lucy Kaplansky, I don’t know if she would count Suzanne Vega as one of her influences, but her voice definitely has similar attributes.

Maybe it’s because they’re both from New York. On her Web site you can listen to parts of her songs. Her latest album features mandolin and pedal steel. I don’t know that much about her other than what I’ve heard on her Web site, so if anyone has anything to say, feel free to comment on this blog.

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: neatnessdotcom)

As a teenager growing up in Alberta, Joni couldn’t afford a guitar, so she bought a baritone ukulele. She learned about writing poetry from a teacher in grade school. She played her ukulele at parties and get-togethers. Her early embracing of this instrument could be the reason she is such an inventive musician.

During college she began performing at a local club called The Depression. After going to art college for a year she dropped out and went to Toronto to become a folk singer. Thus began her journey.

I remember hearing Joni for the first time as a teenager, and I was instantly intrigued. Joni used many alternate tunings in her earlier, acoustic albums, and I copied her style. I really learned a lot about playing the guitar from listening to her.

More on Joni’s life and how her sound has evolved here. Also: The Joni Undercover Project is dedicated to locating all covers of Joni Mitchell songs ever recorded. So far they have found 2,512 covers of 138 of Joni’s songs done by 1,960 different artists!

You can search for the songs that have been covered here.

Kristin Kirby

I’ve watched a few of these videos and have come to feel that she has a likeness to Bruce Springsteen. The similarity is partly in her epic, storytelling songs, and partly something else that’s simply un-nameable. It’s just a feeling; something to do with combining youthful angst and passion with intense imagery. If the above link didn’t have you cruising around YouTube like a kid in bumper cars, check out this link.

Like Springsteen, her voice is not flawless, but it’s still beautiful and the passion she emits draws you in. She’s also very proficient on her instruments, and uses a lot of jazz chords, both on piano and guitar. She keeps you guessing about who she really is and what she might really be thinking. One more, check out this concert appearance and watch the interview at the end.

Kristin Kirby

I can’t always relate to every single thing he’s done, but I truly respect him and I like his different sounds. Some people don’t like the whole guitar synth thing; I really do. I get tired of hearing jazz guitar players, even the really great ones, using the same sound. I think that their playing deserves more than that, and I like the boundaries that Metheny has pushed in this area.

Recently Metheny’s played a bass/lute/harp invention called a “Picasso guitar.” If you’re unaware of what I’m talking about, check out the video below. This is a good example of doing something a bit different, then going into his older style of just plain ol’ fast fingers. Also, check out this concert footage with extreme closeup of his fingers. It’s not an example of his super-fast playing, but for you guitarists it shows how he gets around on the neck with “thumbovers” a great technique, one that I’ve had to try to get used to since I didn’t really do it while I was first starting out (Jimi Hendrix employed this technique a lot instead of barre chords which makes it worth mentioning that it’s easier if you have bigger hands).

As Pat Metheny fans will know, he’s added a “world” sound to his jazz albums, which suits his style of playing quite well. You can just go to a certain unnamed video Web site and search for his name to get great footage of this.

While I’m on the subject of jazz guitarists, it’s worth mentioning Mimi Fox here. I think she’s still based in San Francisco that’s where I’ve heard her play. I’ve also played a little bit with her at a music festival years ago when she taught a workshop there. Anyway, here’s some Mimi playing for you. I really like her whimsical style, and the fact that she always looks so happy when she’s playing! Always great to hear those female guitarists.

Keep your eyes peeled here for next time when I’ll be mentioning more of them!

Kristin Kirby

(photo credit: feuilllu)