Spinning Stories: The Tennessee Record Shops Turning Turntables Into Town Squares

There's something almost ritualistic about flipping through a crate of records. The cardboard sleeves, the faded liner notes, the satisfying thwack of pulling out something you didn't know you were looking for until it was already in your hands. In a world where entire music libraries live inside a phone, that ritual has never felt more valuable — and in Tennessee, it's thriving.

Across the state, independent record shops are quietly becoming some of the most interesting places to spend a Saturday afternoon. They're hosting listening parties, building loyal regulars, and creating the kind of community that streaming platforms simply can't replicate. We talked to a handful of the people making it happen.

More Than a Music Store

Walk into Fond Object Records in Nashville's East Side and you'll immediately understand that something different is going on here. The walls are covered in local art, a turntable spins behind the counter, and there's a good chance someone nearby is having a genuinely passionate conversation about a B-side you've never heard of.

"We never wanted this to just be a retail space," says co-owner Rachel Hurley. "From the beginning, the idea was to build something that felt like a gathering place. The records are the reason people walk in, but the community is the reason they keep coming back."

Fond Object regularly hosts in-store performances, album release parties, and even the occasional vinyl swap meet. It's become a kind of unofficial clubhouse for Nashville's music obsessives — a group that, it turns out, is considerably larger than you might expect in the age of Spotify.

That sentiment echoes across the state. In Knoxville, Raven Records has been a fixture on the scene for decades, and owner Bill Sherrill has watched the store evolve from a straightforward buy-sell-trade operation into something closer to a cultural institution. "We do listening nights now where people just come in, we put on a record, and we talk about it," he says. "No phones, no distractions. Just music and conversation. People are hungry for that."

The Small-Town Surprise

Not every great record shop in Tennessee has a Nashville zip code. Some of the most compelling finds are in places you might not think to look.

Down in Murfreesboro, Cue & A Vinyl has carved out a loyal following among students and longtime locals alike. Owner Marcus Webb opened the shop after years of buying records at flea markets and estate sales, building a collection that eventually outgrew every room in his house. "My wife gave me an ultimatum," he laughs. "So I rented a storefront."

What started as an outlet for his personal overflow has turned into one of Middle Tennessee's best-kept secrets. Webb specializes in soul, funk, and gospel — genres that don't always get the shelf space they deserve — and he's made a point of sourcing locally whenever possible. "A lot of what I carry came from Tennessee families," he says. "There's a history in these records that you don't get anywhere else."

Further east, in Johnson City, a shop called The Groove Cellar operates out of a renovated basement space that feels like stepping into someone's very well-organized attic. Owner Dana Proffitt started the shop as a side project during the pandemic and never looked back. "People needed somewhere to go, something tactile to connect with," she says. "Vinyl gave them that. And once they found us, they didn't want to leave."

Why Vinyl, Why Now

The numbers back up what these shop owners are experiencing firsthand. Vinyl record sales in the US have grown for more than fifteen consecutive years, and 2023 marked the highest sales figures since the early 1980s. Younger buyers — millennials and Gen Z — now make up a significant portion of the market, drawn in by a combination of nostalgia, aesthetics, and a genuine desire for something more intentional than a shuffle playlist.

For Tennessee, a state with music woven into its very identity, the vinyl revival feels especially fitting. "This is where the music was made," says Hurley. "People here have a different relationship with it. It's personal."

Sherrill agrees. "Knoxville has always had a deep music culture that doesn't always get the attention Nashville does. The record store is one of the places where that culture lives. People come in and they recognize each other — musicians, collectors, casual listeners. It all mixes together."

The Curation Game

One thing that sets great independent record shops apart from big-box retailers and online marketplaces is curation. These owners aren't just stocking shelves — they're making editorial decisions about what deserves space, what tells a story, what a customer might not know they need until they see it.

"I think about it like being a DJ," says Webb. "The way you sequence a set matters. The way you lay out a store matters. I want someone to come in looking for one thing and leave with three things they didn't expect."

That curatorial instinct extends to the events these shops host. Listening parties are increasingly common, with some stores dedicating entire evenings to a single album — playing it front to back, discussing the production, the context, the stories behind the songs. It's music appreciation as a communal act, and it's drawing crowds.

"We did a night focused on classic Tennessee gospel records," says Proffitt. "I didn't know what to expect. We had people in their seventies sitting next to college kids, and everyone was just completely locked in. That's not something that happens on a streaming platform."

Keeping It Going

Running an independent record shop is not a path to easy money. Margins are thin, inventory requires constant attention, and the competition from online resellers is real. But the owners we spoke with are remarkably optimistic — not because the business is effortless, but because the community around it keeps showing up.

"Every time I think it's going to slow down, something happens that reminds me why we're doing this," says Hurley. "A kid comes in who's never owned a record before and just completely lights up. Or someone brings in a collection that belonged to their dad and wants to find it a good home. Those moments are everything."

In Tennessee, where music isn't just entertainment but something closer to heritage, the record store has always been more than a shop. Right now, it's becoming something even bigger — a place where the past and present of a deeply musical state can sit side by side in a cardboard sleeve, waiting to be discovered.

So next time you're passing through a Tennessee town, big or small, keep an eye out for that hand-painted sign in a window. Chances are, there's something worth flipping through inside.