Third Man Records in Nashville TN

I FINALLY got to Third Man Records in Nashville Tennessee!  This has been a place high on my list for some time.

A buddy went some time ago, and brought me back the plastic, "Mold-A-Rama" style guitar available here.  I love that sort of thing.

And I love the fact that Jack White has a record store in Nashville.  That alone is just pretty cool.

We had heard that the store was in a questionable neighborhood, but we walked to it from the Broadway area (it was maybe a 20 minute walk) and we felt safe.  I would say it was a nice, pleasant walk too.

The store itself is small.  Definitely think cool old independent record store you remember from a couple of decades ago.  Don't think about the large cd/record shops that used to be in the malls.

The thing that I really wanted to do here was record an actual song in the "Third Man Recording Booth."  For $20, you can actually record for a couple of minutes onto an actual piece of vinyl.  Think about that.  It is a VERY rare opportunity.

The booth is from the 40s... and it is a bit moody.  I noticed on their website that they suggest calling to see if the booth is working before coming in.  THAT is authentic vintage technology!


A very friendly fellow working there helped us get ready to record, explaining the process.  You pretty much press a button, hear a vacuum sound, that ends, a light comes on... and you go!

We debated what to sing.  I felt that Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" might be a nice choice.  My wife felt something more traditional would be right.  "You Are My Sunshine" ended up being the song we went with.

We actually had to record it twice, as there was an issue with the needle the first time around.  AND, somehow, we ended up recording on the B-side...  So our only, one of a kind single is literally the B-side to nothing.  That feels appropriate.

The staff played our record at the store to make sure it sounded right (more bragging rights- my one record has been played at Third Man Records).  To my wife's relief, they did play it low, so we were really the only ones who could hear it.

The whole process was a lot of fun.  Our record is on clear vinyl too, which I like.


The staff at Third Man told us that a lot of big names have actually recorded in the booth including Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Weird Al.  She told us that Hannibal Buress stopped by to record in it recently too.  And now we have.

After we recorded, a guy went in to record himself rapping.