Shangri-La Records

While it’s true that Shangri-La opened its doors back in 1988, it might be forgotten that it was not initially a record store. The original founding owner, Sherman Willmott, billed the midtown hideout at 1916 Madison Avenue as a “vacation for the mind and body.” The restored house, originally built in 1900, featured sensory-deprivation flotation tanks as well as massages and “brain tune-ups” – brain-tuners were a set of goggles/headphones that played soothing music and flashed pulses of light around the eyes. Far out! Needless to stay, the concept was a bit ahead of its time. Luckily, the record store got started not long thereafter with a single crate of records. Since then, the store has added inventory of tens of thousands of hard-to-find LPs, 45s, CDs, DVDs, books, and other obscurities that truly make it a music lover’s paradise.

Looking back at the shop’s history, it becomes clear that Shangri-La has been more than just a quaint spot to come hunt for tunes. Around 1990, in addition to releasing the sporadic music and culture fanzine, Kreature Comforts, Shangri-La Records began carrying independent label albums in the store as well as any and all Memphis releases, independent and otherwise. Eric Friedl, of Oblivians and Goner Records fame, moved to Memphis at that time and immediately began to help build the record side of the store. As it took off, Sherman founded the Shangri-La Projects label as an outlet for the burgeoning Memphis music world of groups like 611 and A Band Called Bud (later known as the Grifters), and others who were recording at the newly expanded Easley-McCain space. Sherman still runs the label today and has added a number of albums, books and more to the catalog (available from us right here [shop]).