The sign for Buried Treasures along Highway 100 includes a big acknowledgement that vinyl records are inside the antiques and collectibles store. Image by Tom Adkinson

FAIRVIEW, Tenn. – “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” could be the marketing slogan at a rural antique store about 25 miles west of Nashville, but perhaps not for the expected reason.

It’s true that antiques dealers acquire items that people want to get rid of and then sell them to other people who want exactly those items, but at Buried Treasures, it was the antiques store owner who wanted to unload something.

Richard Clements, otherwise known as “Record Rick,” wraps up the sale of a Santana album for Nashvillian Anthony Chavez. Image by Tom Adkinson

Store owner Lana DeMoss had a substantial number of vinyl record albums in 2021 that didn’t exactly fit her normal inventory of furniture pieces, stemware, paintings, collectibles, and decorator items.

Enter Richard Clements, now better known as Record Rick.

Record Rick offered to inventory what DeMoss had, which was about 6,000 records, and Record Rick became the lord and master of a major portion of Buried Treasures. His vault of custom-built wooden boxes contains between 10,000 and 11,000 albums. He’s not really sure how much inventory he has.

Deadwax, the space on a vinyl album between the last selection and the paper label, contains tiny codes with information about where the album was pressed. Image by Tom Adkinson

Record Rick loves sharing what he finds with like-minded people who value what he does – any kind of music that’s on vinyl.

“I can just sit here, listen to what I want to hear, crank up the volume as loud as I want, and make deals. It’s good to help people find music they like,” he said after completing a sale to Anthony Chavez, a Nashvillian who arrived looking for one album but left with another.

That happens often, Record Rick said, comparing vinyl hunters to kids in a candy store. They enter with red hots on their minds but quickly get distracted by all-day suckers or a dozen other sweets.

Record Rick started gaining his knowledge about vinyl records from his first job after leaving the Air Force in his twenties. Image by Tom Adkinson

Chavez, who said he hunts for hard-to-find 1990s grunge band albums, was looking for Sound Garden’s “Super Unknown.” No luck, but he zeroed in on Santana’s second studio album, “Abraxas,” and departed happy.

“This place is super cool. I’m glad I found it,” Chavez said.

Record Rick’s interest in vinyl began in Charleston, S.C., when he was in his twenties and fresh out of the Air Force. He got a job in a record store, helped that business grow and then spent many years doing other work. It was DeMoss at Buried Treasures who got him back into vinyl.

A turntable in need of an owner rests atop boxes of albums and in front of portraits of various artists. Image by Tom Adkinson

“We are a store selling loved and nurtured vinyl. Every record priced more than $5 has an outer sleeve on it. That shows respect for the album,” he said.

The three albums in the most demand are Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” and Queen’s “Night at the Opera.” Some people simply want the album, while others are looking for true collectors’ items – early pressings in pristine condition.

Record Rick enjoys educating browsers about the finer points of vinyl, such as “deadwax.” That is the space on an album after the last of the recording and before the paper label. Codes – tiny, almost invisible codes – are embedded in the deadwax, and people who know how to decipher those codes can help determine an album’s origin and value.

Colored dots on the roughly 10,000 to 11,000 albums tell customers how big a purchase they are accumulating. Image by Tom Adkinson

Record Rick said many customers are looking to replace albums they used to own or are trying new types of music. He said the most popular categories in descending order are rock, jazz, country, rhythm & blues, and blues. He does buy albums from customers and said perhaps one-fourth of his inventory has come from walk-ins.

“My biggest sense of elation is when customers find their holy grail, the album they have been seeking for years,” he said.

Trip-planning resources: VisitFranklin.com and Buried Treasures’ Facebook page

(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available at Amazon.com.