How a turntable changed my family’s relationship to music and quality time
In a heartwarming reflection on music, love, and family traditions, the author recounts how a vinyl record gifted by his wife, Steph, marked a significant milestone in their relationship. The album, Josh Ritter’s *Hello Starling*, not only served as the soundtrack to their early dating days but also became a symbol of their journey together as they celebrated their 10-year anniversary. Although they didn’t own a turntable at the time, the physicality of the record—its artwork, liner notes, and the act of handling it—evoked a powerful nostalgia that transcended the convenience of digital music. This rekindling of their musical connection sparked a newfound appreciation for vinyl records, which have seen a remarkable resurgence in recent years, largely attributed to their tangible charm and the intimate experience they provide.
As the family embraced vinyl, they discovered the joy of music as a shared experience. The author’s children, aged six and four, began to explore their own musical tastes, leading to spontaneous dance parties fueled by the crackling warmth of a record player. The family upgraded their setup with better speakers and dedicated space for their growing collection, transforming the turntable into a centerpiece of their home life. This shift not only enhanced their musical enjoyment but also fostered quality time together, as they began to incorporate records into their daily routines—playing music during meals and winding down at night. The author highlights that vinyl doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby; there are numerous affordable options available for those looking to dive into the world of records.
Incorporating records into their gift-giving practices became a cherished family tradition, with each holiday bringing new albums to explore and enjoy together. The thoughtful nature of gifting music deepened their connections, as each record represented an understanding of one another’s tastes and preferences. The author shares anecdotes about selecting albums for his children, emphasizing the importance of cultural education through music. They even made a point to support local record stores and independent musicians, further enriching their family’s musical journey. As they continue to collect records and attend concerts, the family not only nurtures their love for music but also strengthens their bonds, proving that vinyl can indeed create lasting memories and traditions.
It began with one record, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter’s
Hello Starling
. The album was originally released in September 2003, just a couple months before my now-wife Steph and I started dating. It was the soundtrack to our first year together. I owned it on CD back then, but had long since parted ways with my CD collection.
And yet, here it was again, now on vinyl, given to me by Steph to mark our 10-year anniversary. We didn’t own a turntable; I had no way of listening to the record, but that didn’t matter. It was the physical manifestation of the music that made us. After a decade or so of digital-only music, holding the record — seeing the album art in print and larger than an image thumbnail, turning it over in my hands, and reading the liner notes — felt like a revelation.
Vinyl records can feel impractical: They’re big, decidedly not portable, and a single album costs twice as much as several months of a streaming service that gets you more or less every song in history. But my family soon learned there’s a reason — besides Taylor Swift — that vinyl has staged a surprising comeback. Our turntable changed our relationship to music and quality time with each other, and started a new holiday tradition.
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Learning to enjoy music as a family
A few years after that first gift, we happened upon a collection of hand-me-down records. I don’t remember where they came from, but it was a random assortment — some Beatles, the original cast recordings of
Annie
and
The Sound of Music
, music from
Sesame Street
and
Mr. Rogers
. Our kids were 6 and 4, beginning to form opinions about music, and I thought it might be cool if they could experience music as something visceral, beyond what they could access by shouting at Alexa.
I reached out to a friend who also happened to be a DJ and asked if he had a spare turntable lying around that he wasn’t using. He offered his Numark TTX, one of two he’d replaced with higher-quality
Technics decks
. I connected it to an old pair of crappy computer speakers, dropped the needle on The Beatles’
Revolver
, and was hooked from the moment I heard the familiar warm popping sound at the start of the record.
Before long, the rest of the family fell in love too. The kids liked that they could put on a record and start an instant dance party. Steph liked the predictability — after years of Alexa playing the wrong song, it was nice to know that when the needle touched down, the music you chose would play.
The turntable started out in our office, but before long we moved it out to the living room. We got a set of
Edifier bookshelf speakers
and a new piece of furniture with space for our growing record collection. The turntable and records became the centerpiece of our living room and, by extension, of our life at home. We’d put on a record when we walked back into the house, play something quiet while we ate dinner, and then again to wind down at night after the kids went to bed.
You don’t have to be an audiophile (or friends with a DJ) to find the right turntable: They’re available at all price points and easy to just plug in and use. The
Audio-Technica AT-LP60X
is often recommended as a high-quality budget option for beginners; it features a fully automatic arm and options for upgrading later. The
U-Turn Orbit
, made by a small company in the Boston area where we live, offers a classy look for an accessible price.
A new holiday tradition
Soon after we got our turntable, records became a fixture of our family’s gift-giving practice. Every Christmas and birthday in the past five years has brought new records. We’ve given the kids albums in their Easter baskets, and Steph and I have exchanged favorites old and new at the holidays. It’s been a joy to rediscover the magic of giving music. It’s an inherently thoughtful gift that says,
I know you love this album
. Or,
Since I know you so well, I think you’ll really like this one.
As Rob, the main character in Nick Hornby’s
High Fidelity,
says of making a mixtape, it’s “using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel.”
There are practical reasons why records make great gifts as well. You can pick up albums on the cheap in the “used” section of a local record store (they still exist!) or you can drop a hefty amount for limited editions, foreign imports, box sets, special colored vinyl, or other premium offerings.
In our family, we now pay attention to each other’s streaming music and listen closely whenever someone talks about an artist they’re into. My daughter was listening to a lot of Gracie Abrams, so we got her
The Secret of Us
. My son somehow got super into Imagine Dragons, so we got him
Night Visions
and, when it was released last year,
Loom
. Neither of these are exactly my favorites, but they are vast improvements over the earliest records we bought for them: a Record Store Day Exclusive 45 RPM of the
Paw Patrol
theme song and the
Frozen
soundtrack were among their first vinyl.
Steph knows my music taste intuitively at this point, and there’s a never-ending list of albums I’ve loved over the past two decades that I either used to own on CD or only ever streamed, to say nothing of all the new music I listen to. She’s gotten good at creating pairings of old and new. One Christmas a couple of years ago she got me two old favorites — The Beatles’
Abbey Road
and The Avett Brothers’
I and Love and You
— paired with two newer selections, Ruston Kelly’s
Dirt Emo
and Mary Lattimore’s
Silver Ladders
.
For my part, I’ve kept Steph well stocked with Taylor Swift albums (in some cases both the original and Taylor’s Versions), as well as perennial favorites like Brandi Carlisle, Caamp, and Noah Kahan.
Recently we’ve been buying the kids records as a form of cultural education. They really should know Queen, we thought, so we gifted them Queen’s
Greatest Hits
. After the first day of school this year, my daughter thanked me for exposing her to so much music — her seventh-grade class played a music trivia game, and she impressed her teacher with how much she knew.
Buying records is also a way of supporting two struggling institutions we really believe in: local retailers (shout out to
The Record Exchange
in Salem, Massachusetts!) and independent musicians. We buy a record whenever we attend a show.
Last year, Josh Ritter toured for the twentieth anniversary of
Hello Starling
. Steph and I went, and at the end we made a beeline for the merch table. We already own
Hello Starling
, of course, as well as its follow up
The Animal Years
and 2019’s
Fever Breaks
, so we gifted ourselves Ritter’s 2007 album
The Historical Conquest of Josh Ritter
. This brought our Josh Ritter collection up to four — the most records we have by any one artist. Except, of course, for Taylor Swift.
