ASHEVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina’s first vinyl pressing facility has found its home in Asheville.
What You Need To Know
Citizen Vinyl opened in 2020 in downtown Asheville
The business offers free tours of its recording studios and vinyl pressing plant
According to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources this is the first vinyl pressing facility in the state
Citizen Vinyl celebrates music and creativity with a vinyl pressing plant, a bar, a cafe, an analog recording studio and a record store.
The business honors the legacy of its historic building and nostalgia of vinyl records.
Citizen Vinyl is located in a 1939 building that once housed WWNC radio and The Asheville Citizen-Times.
“Bill Monroe introduced for the first time over the airwaves that new bluegrass sound from this very room,” Citizen Vinyl founder and CEO Gar Ragland said.
He started renting this space in 2020.
“This is the original floor, which is a record itself, which we felt was a telltale sign this was meant to be,” Ragland said.
He brought the tunes back to the historic building and manufacturing downstairs.
“Original to the basement, there were printing presses. The newspaper was printed onsite,” Ragland said.
Now, Citizen Vinyl manufactures records on site of all genres, including hip hop, Americana, R&B, folk and even spoken word.
“We have three presses here. We are pressing records seven days a week, 16 hours of day. We try to make 2,500 records every day of the week,” Ragland said.
Citizen Vinyl opened in 2020, which Ragland said brought many challenges and opportunities.
“The silver lining is we entered the vinyl industry at the time that it’s bursting at the seams,” Ragland said.
According to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, this is the first vinyl pressing facility in the state.
“We take even greater pride in serving our North Carolina-based clients, whether they are independent artists or record labels,” Ragland said.
Ragland wants this space to also serve as a cultural landmark to show locals and tourists the history of arts, craft and manufacturing in this community.
“We are all about celebrating history and being inspired by it,” Ragland said.
Ragland said 18-to-24-year-olds are the fastest growing demographic of vinyl consumers.
Free tours are available for the manufacturing plant and recording studios.
Esquire Magazine recognized Session, the bar at Citizen Vinyl, as one of the best in the country this year.
The article mentions the drinks, the view of the vinyl record plant, the architecture and curated playlists as standouts.