Being a fan of free in-store performances, vinyl and many of the bands from Denton, Dallas & Ft. Worth Texas, this national holiday provided me with a chance to enjoy these treasures all at once. There didn’t seem to be a downside to this day of celebration, as even with Christmas, there is always the drunk uncle trying to wear the baby’s Santa hat as he holds the mistletoe in all sorts of inappropriate places, forgetting that in fact, he is surrounded by family and therefore the mistletoe is even more inappropriate than usual.
Saturday’s events at Good Records in Dallas served as not only Dallas’ official Record Store Day celebration, but as the 8th B-day party for one of Dallas’s must-see, must-shop locations. The talent started playing at 11am and was scheduled to roll past midnight. I was there early in the day to catch more of the twangy, folky acts (the remainder of the day would host some of the areas top Indie and Rock acts). Matthew & The Arrogant Sea put on a powerful, yet poppy folk show for what must’ve been 200+ people in attendance. I used this time to peruse the 7″ vinyl singles that were being billed as special releases for the occasion (I picked up REM and Death Cab for Cutie’s new 45’s). After MATAS left the stage, I got ready for the act I had been waiting to see for quite some time, Doug Burr (Myspace / official). Burr posseses a stoic, calm presence and his voice contains sadness and longing that somehow managed to quiet the conversational and predominantly hipster crowd. He and his combo (which featured some great Hammond B3 sounds), played mainly cuts from his recent release On Promenade, and in the process really showed why you can be a Texan playing Country flavored music without it being lumped in with “Texas Country”. My fave track from his set was “Slow Southern Home”. Burr busted out the harmonica and brought the house to an even quieter silence as attendees paid as close attention to his sounds as they did his words.
It was a great time, and I am thankful to have a place like Good Records nearby. The truth is that outside of a couple of freebies, balloons and a few more bands than normal, this event wasn’t that much different than what goes on there on a regular basis.
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[...] the DVD will be made available early for National Record Store day. If you’ll remember, I celebrated that day with a few purchases last year, and now will do the same this [...]