The only record pressing plant in Texas has been rescued

Josey Records buy A&R Records to keep vinyl in business in the Lone Star State.

Setting up a vinyl empire to challenge Jack White’s Third Man records in the United States is no small undertaking. Managing partners of Josey Records, Luke Sardello and Waric Cameron have added Texas’ only vinyl pressing plant to an enterprise that already includes two giant record shops (in Dallas and Kansas).

Setting their sites on offering a farm-to-plate service, the pressing plant will allow Josey Records bring their record label together with recording studios, distribution, an in-house production staff and record manufacturing under the same roof, offering a one-stop service for bands and artists. And they’ve only been around one year.

As Sardello told the Dallas Observer: “Not many have that vertical integration going where you’ve got your hands in different aspects of the entire chain.”

Notably easier than shipping your presses from Mexico, the newly purchased A&R Records pressing plant comes with seven record presses, which date back to the ’60s when the factory first opened its doors, as well as a catalogue of practically every record the factory ever pressed.

Having worked at A&R for over thirty years, Stan Getz has expressed his relief that the plant will stay in operation in Texas: “I’ve been approached by four or five other people… They are the most perfect fit I could ever imagine to buy that place.” [via Dallas Observer]

Watch this report below to find out more:

Image: A & R Records