On the Record: A Chat With Bart Stinchcomb

When Bart and Christina Stinchcomb moved from the mountains of Colorado to the tidewaters of Chestertown eight years ago to start Airy Hill Stables, the plan was simple: Christina would expand and flourish in her equestrian business, and Bart would retire from two decades as a record store owner on Boulder to help manage Airy Hills.

But you know how best-laid plans work out—they disguise the unexpected. Turns out that after swearing to himself—and to Christina—that the record business was behind him, he missed the camaraderie of shared interests with those seeking the thin, etched disks that revolutionized the music industry for decades.

Bart’s Records Chestertown on Cannon Street was one of those inspired changes that benefit all of us: music geeks, collectors, and the curious. And the business has a few records—10,000 and counting.

Since 2006, vinyl record sales have been on the rise. In 2023 alone, almost 50 million were sold, a 14% increase from the previous year. Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department skyrocketed in its first week, selling 859,000 copies, making it the largest sales week for a vinyl album ever. Still shy of its glory days in the mid-1970s, the 100-year-old technology continues to grow its audience.

Audiophiles swear to the superior analog vinyl sound and search for the best copies of their favorite artists. Others, like book collectors, want a specific “pressing” {edition) of a record and find at Bart’s the audio treasure they’ve been seeking. And if, it’s not there, he’ll help you find it.

The Spy recently interviewed Bart about how he caught the music bug as a kid in Annapolis, his return to Maryland and Chestertown and how music became his life and career.

Bart’s Records is at 332 Cannon Street. For more information, see his Facebook page here, or call 443-480-7807.

This video is approximately right minutes in length.