I spent an unforgettable weekend in downtown Nashville and took you with me through two record stores that every vinyl lover should have on their list—Swaggy’s Records and Jack White’s Third Man Records. Nashville is just one of those cities where you can walk Broadway, pop into basically any spot, and there’s live music happening everywhere. Country is the main flavor, of course, but if you search around you’ll find jazz, rock, and plenty of other vibes too. The city is super welcoming, and even the hotels get in on the vinyl culture. First stop was Swaggy’s Records, a newer shop that actually started during the pandemic—wild, right? The coolest part is “the vault,” and it’s literally a bank vault because the store is a converted bank. I dug up some really clean gems there, including near-mint Japanese pressings with obi strips and a ridiculously clean used copy of Spacehog on colored vinyl. Then I headed to Third Man Records, which is iconic for a reason—the look, the history, the gear, the Blue Room series, all of it. I’ll be honest though: some pricing felt premium (that White Stripes box set at $400 was tough to justify), but I still walked out with some very cool Third Man picks and a couple records I’m excited to explore on my system.