"Independent record stores are home to me and the twins," she wrote on Instagram. "When I started playing guitar and writing songs in my bedroom I would daydream about making albums that a person might stumble across by flipping through the alphabetically organized bins at the record store. They’d see The Cars, then Belinda Carlisle, then there I’d be...just waiting to be noticed by a proper music fan out for a day of discovery. Maybe if I had a cool enough shirt on or just the right font they’d pick up my album and take it home."
Record stores are a frequent destination for Carlile when she's on the road, and she stressed their lasting importance in her life now that her daydream's come true: "We’ve covered every square inch of this country and visited damn near every record store it has to offer and I still believe these places are the heart and soul of American music."
Recent Record Store Day ambassadors include Carlile's fellow Washingtonians Pearl Jam (2019's pick), Run the Jewels (2018) and St. Vincent (2017).
Read Carlile's Record Store Day announcement in full below.