Records and Rain

Saturday was record store day here in Columbus, as it was in the rest of the US and the UK. After trawling for the list of exclusive releases for the day I decided that there wasn't really anything I was willing to stand in line waiting outside in the rain for an hour or so to have a chance of getting. Instead, even though it was raining, I decided I would head down to my closest store, Lost Weekend Records, later on in the day. I aimed for 1pm having read that Lydia Loveless was due to play a set outside. I cycled down in light rain, and was happy to see her setting up under the cover of a gazebo. While she was getting ready I went inside to peruse the racks and check out what was left of any exclusive release (not much).

The rain had pretty much eased off by the time she got to playing her set in the shadow of the gazebo. It was just her, an acoustic guitar and chap on double bass. I really enjoyed her songs and the simplicity of her guitar and belting country, but not too country, voice. She played mostly songs from her debut album (above) and also a cover of Elvis Costello's "Alison," which featured on the B side of her record store day release. I decided to pick up her album after she finished in the busy shop. While waiting in line I also found another bit of Ohio country/ garage (rock).

The Heartless Bastards were formed in Cincinnati in 2003 and their debut album (above) had been on my list since I had worked out that one of my favorite tracks on a fantastic, Joff Winterhart-compiled compilation CD was in fact them and not Sleater-Kinney. So that was record store day for another year,    doing our bit to support our local independent record store, not that I'll be waiting to go back until this time next year you understand...