While I was living in my parents’ house as a kid, rock and roll from the 50’s and 60’s was the music of choice. My father had kept some record albums that he collected while he was in the army. My sister and I were never able to touch them. This rule was written in stone.

Elvis Presley, the Beatles, The Mamas and Papas, Gene Chandler, The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Beach Boys, Del Shannon and many others regularly sang to us. We were dyed in the wool of rock and roll. I knew the lyrics to songs that many of my friends had never heard.

When the day came to leave home, I found myself depending on the radio or the cassette tapes I had picked up along the way. I never expected it, but I actually missed the distinctive sound of a vinyl record. Sure, there’s a slight hiss in the background, but the music was crisp and clear.

On my travels, I would occasionally visit thrift stores that sold used vinyl records. I started looking through them. Finding scratch-free records is a chore. Each store has a core of albums that all thrift stores sell. (or stays with, as the case may be) Christmas Albums, Mitch Miller, Lawrence Welk, Ray Coniff and several others were a great deal.

As I was looking at the records, I started noticing older country music albums that I had heard of but never seriously listened to. Hey, I was rock and roll, not country. Some of the records were in pretty good shape, so I bought some. I took them home and started playing them on my assembled stereo. Before I knew what was going on, I became a fan of country and western.

The new country is different from the older artists. George Jones sounded like no one else. Today, it is difficult to distinguish one from another. Their styles are similar, not distinctive. Don Williams, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash were like no one else. And then I discovered Tanya Tucker and Tammy Wynette. Those two ladies confirmed me as a fan of the country. Loretta Lynn didn’t hurt either.

Then something amazing happened. I brought home some orchestral albums and found that I liked them too. They’re not Tammy, but they’re good to listen to when the mood is right. I even started listening to Andy Williams doing Moon River. Talk about a mood generator.

One of my favorite albums is the one about a wooden sloop going up the east coast. Turn off the lights, adjust the volume, and I’m in the ocean. I pass two buoys, with bells clanging, along my way. Definitely a mood enhancer. I have had several people on the boat with me. Everyone had fun.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a new stereo. I bought a tuner/amp, a 2-cassette player, a turntable, and a CD recorder. One thing I learned was that the amp had to be specific to a turntable because the necessary ports had to be compatible with the turntable. It would not work, for example, to connect the turntable to a tape player port.

I immediately started burning CDs. I now have over 1000 albums so I was not short of music to choose from. Due to the finger oil on the albums, I needed to clean them. What I came up with was to use a soft sponge and a very mild liquid soap. I used soap designed for senior care so I knew it was gentle.

Rinse the album in Luke warm water. Do not immerse it in water. The label, which is often separated from the vinyl, could peel off if it gets wet. I lay a soft towel on the counter and put the record on it. After putting soap on the sponge, I give the disc a bath, like a baby. I have never damaged an album doing this and I have made hundreds. I wash each side with the sponge, always following the grain of the record. Next, I rinse the album and dry it with a soft cotton cloth. Nothing should be done to scratch the vinyl.

I take the disk to my office and let it air dry as I go. As soon as I put it on the turntable, I turn it up and start recording. When I’m recording, I have nothing else to do. I don’t risk leaving him alone. First I burn to a rewritable CD. If I make a mistake, I can erase that track or the entire record if I decide I don’t like it after all. Then I transfer the music to a permanent CD.

All my records are standing on the shelves. Placing them is what makes album covers convey the shape of the record inside. My only problem has been finding more and more space to put the albums and then the CDs. I try to keep the various styles together, which makes it easier to find something I’m looking for. My rock and roll and my country are even in alphabetical order.

If you want to read something while listening to music, check out the latest detective book by Loren Douglas called “Verifiable Evidence”. It can be found at: http://www.booklocker.com/books/2812.html

Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. I’m sitting here right now with my headphones listening to a rock and roll compilation CD that I made. I’m lovin ‘it!