Gerry Williams Loves Talking About Music, Not Just Selling It

ARTS & CULTURE

CARRBORO –Selling CDs and vinyl online is Gerry Williams’ primary business, but selling in person offers something besides money — the chance to talk about his passion.

“Being a guy who’s been involved in music for 50 years, I still love talking to people about music and records,” Williams, the organizer of this weekend’s 37th Biannual Carrboro CD and Record Show, told The Local Reporter. In Carrboro it’s more fun, he added, because local musical tastes are all over the map.

“Some of the other shows, the clientele is much more limited in what they’re looking for, like classic rock or heavy metal,” Williams said. In Carrboro, shows draw a mix: older fans, younger fans, lovers of classics, and fans of modern styles. “Vendors say they love bringing a wide range of styles to the show.”

A musical life

Williams currently sells albums, both CD and vinyl, on Discogs, but his passion for music dates back long before the Internet. “I’ve always had records, bought records, always been a collector of records,” he says. “Then in 1977, I opened my first record store in DC and it seemed like a dream — to run a record store and talk about records all the time.”

In 1995, Williams and his then-girlfriend moved to Carrboro, where he opened up Roots CD and Vinyl. “It was a terrible time to open a store. Everyone was downloading and thinking ‘why buy something when I could download for free?’” Four years later, Williams relinquished his lease and transitioned to selling online. However he still does 12 to 15 record shows a year, including the two he organizes annually in Carrboro.

Like many people, Williams’ enthusiasm for collecting has faded over time. When he moved to Carrboro, he brought 5,000 records to stock the store and added an additional 15,000 from his personal collection. Now he’s downsized to around 75 records, most of them autographed.

His taste, however, has expanded. In his youth, he says, his passion was rock and roll, particularly the music of the 1960s’ “British invasion.” Over the years, he’s learned to appreciate multiple other styles, including classic rock, New Wave, country, jazz and blues. “About the only styles I don’t like personally are opera and rap. Apart from that, every style has its appeal.

Vinyl lives

There was a time CDs looked like they’d send vinyl to the trash heap. Just as downloading didn’t kill people’s interest in hard-copy music, the CD format didn’t turn out to be a vinyl killer.

“In the mid-1980s, the industry engineered the switch to CDs because they made considerably more profit,” Williams said, after which CDs dominated for the next 15 to 20 years. “Then downloading took off and both of those kind of dominated for a while. Then I guess around 15 years ago, vinyl started making a strong comeback.” Vinyl sales have overtaken CDs and downloading, making it the only format that’s increased sales over the past decade. “That’s a hell of a lot of vinyl being sold all over the world.”

With vinyl back in fashion, almost every community seems to have a record store now, Williams said. 75 to 80 percent of the music for sale at the Carrboro shows is in vinyl format and the show’s 42 dealer tables make it easy for attendees to find a variety of music.

Williams says when the Carrboro show began in the early 21st century, buyers were mostly older guys like himself who’d grown up with music on vinyl. Since then, the age range of collectors has expanded down to college and high school students. “Now I see someone who’s college age carrying 20 to 30 records out of a show. That’s a testament to how wide-ranging the interest is.”

Some collectors, William says, believe vinyl records have a superior sound quality to CDs. Another factor is that CDs are smaller, so the text and images on album covers are harder to see and read than with vinyl. “It used to be a really important part of releasing an album was whoever they could hire to do the cover art. You’d see some gloriously beautiful art on covers. It’s not the be all and end all for collecting vinyl, but it’s an important part.”

That said, Williams added, CDs “are obviously more convenient. I love having them in my car.” Although Chrysler installed record turntables in some of its cars in the 1950s and early 1960s, that option didn’t prove successful.

The show’s the thing

The Carrboro CD and Record Show will take place at Century Center, 100 N. Greensboro St., from noon to 6 PM Sunday. Williams says the town has been sponsoring the show since 2004 and the Recreation, Parks and Cultural Resources Department has been outstanding at supplying him with any support he needs.

The biggest challenge of staging the show is getting people to attend, Williams said. Even after he’s done everything possible to get the word out, he often runs into someone the following week who’s stunned to realize they missed it. “I’m thinking, you’re not aware of what’s going on. You think you are, but you’re not.”

Even so, he said, the shows are typically well attended, and he hopes that will be the case again. “If sales are off a little bit I feel really guilty, though a lot of times it has nothing to do with anything I did.”

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press