Nail City Records Will Get You Into the Groove
Owner Sees Store As A Way to Preserve Culture and History
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WHEELING -- A new record store in downtown Wheeling isn't just about the music, but also about local culture, history and making Wheeling a destination location for serious album collectors.
Nail City Record opened last fall in Elm Grove, and has moved to the third floor of the McLain Building at 40-12th St., Wheeling.
There are more than 100,000 pieces of recorded sound available at the shop, according to owner Jonathan Napier.
He said the store is not just "about selling records, but archiving history."
During the 1940s, Wheeling was the home to at least four recording labels, according to Napier. The city was known for the Wheeling Jamboree and was stronghold of country music, but doo-wop music also was very popular.
Napier has obtained a sign once used by the Black record company in Wheeling. It soon will be hanging in his store.
A search of the Black home on Table Rock Lane by local historian Jim Thornton also uncovered a palette of 45s recorded in Wheeling that would have been shipped to various record stores as inventory.
"The rest is believed to have been thrown away," Napier said."We are still searching for Wheeling produced music so we can save it."
Wheeling As a Music Destination
Napier, 27, timed the opening of the new location to coincide with the start of the Italian and Greek festivals which were celebrated in Wheeling the fourth week in July.
The first weekend brought in customers from Cleveland, Zanesville and Columbus, he said.
It is common for him to sell albums to people living far outside the Ohio Valley who are looking for that rare recording from a favorite artist that hasn't been available to them. Napier said Nail City Record has customers in more than 30 states, and on every continent but Antarctica.
"People who collect records like to travel, and this store puts Wheeling on their list of destinations," he said. "If there is a store within driving distance, they think, 'Lets go check it out.'"
Once established, it is the natural path of a record store to start its own independent label, according to Napier.
"We would want to record Ohio Valley artists, and bring them to market," he said. "We could also have our own music festivals and bring national musicians to Wheeling."
Often a musical act has fans who will travel miles to see a favorite performer, even if that performer isn't one who is regularly heard on the radio or selling out stadiums, according to Napier. He is aware of this as he often travels to shows.
"Once we start mapping this out, we'll start calling up the contacts we've made -- the managers and the artists," Napier said. "It's only a matter of time. We feel we can do a lot."
"No Record Is Trash"
Napier said a major goal of the store is to get old records out of warehouses, basements and garages and back into circulation.
Thousands of the albums found at Nail City Records came from the collection of Jim Landwehr of Wheeling, and Napier has named one of the rooms in the store the "Landwehr Listening Lounge."
Napier said he spends much time sorting through collections of records, then determining what is playable and valuable. He cleans those items and puts them up for sale.
Napier was inspired to go into the record store business by Pittsburgh record store icon Jerry Weber, who has been noted for saying, "No record is trash."
Napier explained vinyl records no longer ready for the turntable still can be upcycled. They can be used for artwork, and artists have even been known to paint depictions of the performer or visions inspired by the music on the vinyl canvas.
Some discarded albums have been used for crafts and turned into clocks or flowers. Some people have even used them as tiles create a very imaginative floor, he said
Napier plans to donate albums he finds unsellable to art departments in local schools.
The most valuable vinyl recording that has come into his hands was a rare copy of heavy metal guitarist Zakk Wylde's work, "Book of Shadows." The limited edition album was sold at only at concert venues, and contained gold flakes in the vinyl. Napier said it had a value of $300.