From Puppy Love to Hunky Dory: how Tallbird Records became a song of Chesterfield

This is Maria Harris, 59, answering a question that involves a time machine. And her shop, the iconic Tallbird Records, is most certainly that: a time machine.

“People do come into the shop occasionally and go ‘Oh I saw them!’ and I go ‘You saw The Beatles! Oh my god! I need to touch your hand!’ It’s usually women in their seventies, and they saw them in 1964 in Sheffield and they screamed all the way through it.”

David Bowie’s face peers over Maria’s shoulder as she laughs. An album cover holding a past greatness intact, Maria’s record shop holding its place in Chesterfield for ten years now.

“I do have a sense of achievement. I’m amazed and proud that I’m still here after ten years. I don’t think anybody thought it was going to last more than a year or two.”

Her words are humble, but her walk here took nerve.

“I was at home most of the time. A stay at home mum. It coincided with the vinyl resurgence. A combination of factors. The lack of record shops in town. Me wanting to do something with my time, because the kids were at school and didn’t really need me there the whole time. And my general love of music. So I looked for premises, and one came up very quickly. Quite a small shop, and I thought ‘Well, I can just about handle that’.”

Scary? “Totally. I did nearly back out. About a month before we opened. I’ve got a very understanding and amenable landlord, and we discussed the premises, and I told him what I wanted to do. I had it all planned out, and then a few weeks beforehand I thought ‘Oh, this is crazy, what am I doing?’ I phoned him and said ‘Look, I’ve had second thoughts’. He basically put my mind at rest. I’d signed a three year lease, and he indicated if it did all go wrong he wouldn’t come chasing after me with a summons or anything. Because he was so relaxed about it, he took the pressure to succeed off.”

“We started with low expectations. I was flabbergasted on day one when loads of people turned up. Our takings were far above expectations. Of course, every day wasn’t like the first day, but it developed and grew from there. Yes, it was the right decision.”

This feels a very relevant Chesterfield story right now? “We’ve got a good solid community of independent shops. I’d like to see more of those open. If there were more landlords like my landlord, willing to see the bigger picture, to take the risks, to lower their rents for a while, get businesses established. That would be a great thing to see. The other thing to do is not to write the town off. To stop being negative about it the whole time. To look at the positives and support what’s there.”

Agreed. How do you see your connection to Chesterfield? “I’ve lived here seventeen years. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. It’s a great town to bring up a family.”

Was there music in your house when you were a kid? “I got switched onto music by my parents at a very young age. They were into a lot of typical sixties music, and classical. We had records by The Beatles and Elgar, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, people like that. And then into the seventies, people like The Stylistics and Neil Diamond, and so quite an easy listening kind of vibe.”

Maria smiles. “But then I found my own feet. I was very much a teeny-bopper. Donny Osmond, The Bay City Rollers. Not very cool at all.”

Maria can’t help but laugh. “I make no excuse for it. I was a huge Donny fan. I lived in the Far East, and music was fairly mainstream. My dad had a job out there. He was in advertising. He helped me to design the logo. I sent him a very badly drawn idea of what I wanted. He just transformed it. I think a large part of the success of the shop is down to that logo.”

The Tallbird logo is certainly classy. Which might not be said about young Maria’s music taste?

“Then I went to boarding school in England and I got more exposed to the current music what was happening, which was 76, 77. So, punk and new wave. That’s not to say I’d abandoned my love of pop music. So I was secretly listening to Abba and ELO. Disco was great as well.”

Okay, allowed. Favourite three albums? “Parallel Lines by Blondie. That’s my ultimate. Most recent favourite is the Wet Leg album. It only came out last year but I’m a massive fan. Girly pop in the same way that Blondie is. And the third album? I love David Bowie, but which one? Hunky Dory? I do love it, but then what about Station to Station, I love that. What about Scary Monsters? Any of those.”

Looking around Tallbird Records, the diversity of Maria’s taste is mirrored in her stock. But, she makes a point of spreading her stock beyond her own likes: an all inclusive variety of all genres imaginable. It feels like that underground vibe of if you wear a badge saying you’re cool then you’re most definitely not. And in this, Tallbird Records is most definitely cool.

Simon Clowes, 36, also fits here. A respected Chesterfield musician who’s been working here since 2016.

“You’re always surrounded by people that are interested in music. I really like it when we get some of the older customers come in, who are fans of bands that are considered not the coolest bands. Trying to track down an Engelbert Humperdinck record and trying to help them, and it’s just really nice.”

Simon also sees the job as a two-way flow of music geekery. “It’s really nice to introduce people to new music. And I’ve discovered a lot of music by people coming in to buy things… We meet a lot of people who have a similar way of thinking about the world, I guess.”

From an idea, to a successful indie business. Tallbird Records is a Chesterfield song to hear.