Soooooo… got any plans for Black Friday? Gonna do a little shopping? Maybe hit up a few sales? Charge a Walmart or two? Me too! Just kidding, I’m terrified of Black Friday. Frankly, I’m pissed off I even have to capitalize the first letters of Black Friday (but Wikipedia capitalizes them, and we all know Wikipedia’s never wrong). But there is one thing happening the day after Thanksgiving that has me ready and willing to enter the fray of the biggest shopping day of the year: Record Store Day, Black Friday edition. Record Store Day is an event that encourages music lovers to head to their local independently owned record store, have some fun and buy some physical media, including hundreds of special, often limited edition, releases from bands who believe in the cause of keeping local music stores alive. While this year’s main event already happened on April 16, you can still make it to the smaller, but no less exciting, event on November 25. I’ll stay off my soapbox, except to say it was sad to see Richmond, VA fixture Plan 9 file for bankruptcy protection, though I’m optimistic this step will help them adapt so they can continue serving the community, as they have done for 30 years. So what can YOU do to help? Go out and buy some music on Black Friday! One release I’m prepared to shamelessly fight over in public is a 7″ of Ryan Adams song “Do I Wait,” from his marvelously mellow new album Ashes & Fire. If you’re not familiar with him, Adams is known as a songwriting machine, generating new material at an astonishing clip. While that may be true, it doesn’t change the fact that Ashes & Fire is a top-notch collection of soulful and earnest country rock songs that should absolutely not be missed. Have a listen to “Do I Wait” below, and if you’d like it, click here to find a locally owned store, like Plan 9, where you can pick up a copy from a nice, potentially tattooed human being working the register, who will probably tell you “Have a nice day!” when you leave. Unless you buy something by Justin Bieber. All bets are off at that point.

Ryan Adams — “Do I Wait“