Henry Gross: hunter of used discs

[LPJim]

A visit to the new location of a favorite used disc outlet resulted in an unexpected encounter with a former A&M artist while digging through the cutout bins.

McKays Used Books, Records & CDs oldest store is in the former locale of an auto dealership in Knoxville TN. A few years later outlets opened first in Chattanooga and then in Nashville. Books and videos are on the lower floors while LPs and CDs are upstairs.

The Nashville outlet moved from a pawn shop district on Charlotte AV ten miles out I-40 west of downtown. A couple weeks ago I made my first visit to the new locale. It was late evening near closing time. I was pawing through the "scratched" CDs, mostly priced at 95 cents and not arranged in order.

"They sure have a lot of Tijuana Brass albums" I guy who looked around my age said. I said that's great for me , since I collect a lot of the A&M artists.

Next he said "I used to record for A&M." Surprised momentarily, once I made the connection I mentioned having his two albums for the label on vinyl at home, along with some Sha Na Na albums featuring his lead guitar work and perhaps a 45 of his biggest hit "Shannon."

A&M, he said, was very supportive regardless of the lack of big hits on the self titled first album (SP 4416) and PLUG ME INTO SOMETHING (SP 4502) from 1973 and 1975. One of his 'fringe benefits' was the label providing him promotional copies of other artists' releases.

"I wish I could have kept them all but just didn't have storage space," he said.

With the store about to close and needing to make our purchases, I quickly got another customer to snap a photo of us. Then I told him I'd like to find reissues of those early LPs.

He told me about his website where the 2002 two-for-one reissue is in stock along with recent recordings and gave instructions on how to make contact and get discounts. Also, he'd be happy to sign my copies.

Upon returning home I did that. Maybe I'll go back to Nashville when he plays a show and bring my big LP sleeves along. You never know who you'll run into in 'music city.'

www.henrygross.com

 

[Dave]

So cool to meet someone like Henry Gross, haunting your record haunts like that!



-- Dave

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I always thought that first album would have done better if it had a better cover. The second album was a big seller for us -- I played it in the store a lot and we sold a lot of them.

Saw him in a concert at Fargo ND in '76 (I think, or might have been '75), at a concert called "Dacotah Jam." He and Jeff Beck were opening for Fleetwood Mac; it was the summer before Rumours came out and Henry was coming off his big hit with "Shannon." We were so far from the stage I have no memory of what he looked like!

 

[JeffM]

I remember Mr. Gross's follow-up to "Shannon," a song called "Springtime Mama." Very Beach-Boys-influenced, a great upbeat summer record. Not sure how big it was nationally, but it got lots of air play in my area. I bought it too, still have that 45 somewhere.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Yep that was a good song.

I always felt kind of bad for the guy since he had this huge ballad hit -- I thought he was much better as a rock'n'roll singer and then all everyone (and the record company) wanted was ballads, I suppose. Plug Me Into Something has some great rock tunes on it.

 

[jfiedler17]

Very cool, LPJim! Thanks for sharing!
I actually picked up his album Release fairly recently. I'd already been familiar with "Shannon" and had that one on 45 but but had never heard anything else from the album and ended up being very pleased with it. Not sure why "Springtime Mama" wasn't a bigger hit (I think it just barely crept into the Top 40, if memory serves me right) - it was definitely a great follow-up single.

 

[Rudy]

It's neat when these artists go out on a record crawl. I forget if it was NYC, or somewhere else out on the east coast, but Jimmy Page was actually spotted digging through a few record stores. I'd probably be so slack-jawed that I'd walk out of the store. A couple shoppers who greeted him said he was very friendly and down to earth. He supposedly has a huge collection back in the UK.

 

[JeffM]

It's neat when these artists go out on a record crawl. I forget if it was NYC, or somewhere else out on the east coast, but Jimmy Page was actually spotted digging through a few record stores. I'd probably be so slack-jawed that I'd walk out of the store.

"Not without paying, you don't! Hey you, come back here with that Danny Bonaduce LP!!"

 

[jfiedler17]

It's neat when these artists go out on a record crawl. I forget if it was NYC, or somewhere else out on the east coast, but Jimmy Page was actually spotted digging through a few record stores. I'd probably be so slack-jawed that I'd walk out of the store. A couple shoppers who greeted him said he was very friendly and down to earth. He supposedly has a huge collection back in the UK.

Some of the largest record collections I've ever read about are ones assembled by famous musicians, so that wouldn't surprise me! Elton John's personal record collection actually supposedly consisted of over 70,000 discs at one point, but he's since sold the collection to raise money for one of his charities. And I remember reading that the late blues-rock guitarist Jeff Healey had a personal collection of over 30,000 78s alone.

I myself have unfortunately never had the cool experience of running into a famous musician while on a record crawl, but I do have a friend who once ran into Jon Bon Jovi at a music shop in New Jersey while buying a new guitar. What struck my friend as being even more interesting than that was that the record playing on Jon's car stereo as he pulled up to the store was "Livin' on a Prayer." I wasn't there, so I can't actually vouch for that myself, but my friend swears that's the truth. I would've loved to have been there to see that if that's true. Although I probably wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face.

 

[Rudy]

The largest collection I've ever seen pictures of was Joel Whitburn's collection. (He is the author of many of those Billboard chart history books.). They are actually in an underground storage facility at his home in Wisconsin, if I recall.

 

[JeffM]

I read not long ago that Rod McKuen (!) owns one of the world's largest privately held record collections.

 

[Rudy]

I've been trying to purge my collection, only because I have a few duplicates (which I've replaced with better copies or versions), or albums I know I'll never listen to again. I have to make room for the good stuff.

Some LPs in my discard pile still have nice jackets. I bought two of those LP frames from IKEA last night, and they've worked so well that I am going to get a few more the next time I'm out there. They are easy to load and swap out, yet are not bulky like some I've seen.

 

[LPJim]

Henry Gross & me at McKay's Used Discs -- Exit 199 of I-40 -- Nashville TN

 

[Harry]

Nice - portrait and wallet sized!

Seriously - it's fun to meet the down-to-earth artists.

Harry