Jack Lightfoot is an expert when it comes to vinyl records.
He started collecting records when he was just 9 years old. He is a purist when it comes to listening to his favorite artists and still prefers to play his records using analog vacuum tube sound system, which he said sounds better.
“It’s a full three-dimensional sound and people don't believe me without bringing them over to my house so they can hear it for themselves,” he said. “Usually, their jaws hit the floor because they had no idea.”
Lightfoot, who owns Jax-Wax: Quality LP Records, is back with another vinyl show. He and a few dozen vendors from surrounding states with a total of 28 tables will be offering up collectibles and classics July 18th, at the Metro Chattanooga Record Show at the Colonnade in Ringgold, GA.
Vinyl records will be the star of the show, but you’ll also find CDs, music memorabilia and more at the event. Lightfoot said serious collectors can buy early admission tickets for $10 and gain entry to the show at 9:30 a.m. “The hardcore collectors like to cherry pick,” Lightfoot said
The show starts at 10:30 a.m. and goes on until 4 p.m. Admission then is $3.
Lightfoot said there will be a variety of genres to select from. Rock, Country, Pop, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and more.
Lightfoot said he plans on bringing some of his specialty vinyl products.
“I tend to specialize in legitimate Import records,” he said. “Like vinyl records that were pressed in Germany, Britain and Japan. I’m a Japanese pressing fan because they do a lot of things to make the vinyl better. They press them longer. They change the stampers at 5,000 copies, not 10,000 like Americans. They're big on quality. They are pricier because they're coming from halfway around the world, and there aren’t as many of them in the States as there would be domestic U.S. pressings.”
Lightfoot said he also plans on bringing White Label Promo albums to the show.
“That’s where the record company, places a white label, not a colored label on the record,” he said. “It'll say for promotion only. And these were handed out to radio stations, or newspapers or magazines. And they were for either play or review purposes. The thing about White Label albums, because they made a lot fewer of them, let’s say it's Michael Jackson's Thriller as an example. That album has sold like 80 million copies so far. But to have that on a white label, where you might have only 10,000 makes it a little more of a rarity.”
It’s this attention to detail, knowledge of the industry and passion for what he does that customers should come to expect when discussing the vinyl industry with Lightfoot. His brain is like an encyclopedia of bands, artists, producers, labels and sound systems. Over the past few years, he’s traveled to various cities either hosting or as a vendor at various vinyl shows.
He said he likes hosting the Metro Chattanooga Record Show in Ringgold because it’s 15 minutes from Chattanooga and encompasses the surrounding communities that make up the metro area of the Scenic City. It also allows the vendors to have the opportunity to travel down to the Atlanta Record and CD Show set for July 19, in Marietta, Georgia.
“We're 85 miles apart,” he said. “It's a good step for the dealers because if they do my show, they'll do the other one too. That means they can do a two-show weekend and only have an hour and a half drive. It makes it just a lot more convenient for them.”
Vinyl records are enjoying a massive, 19-year consecutive streak of growth. Driven largely by Gen Z and the tangible appeal of physical media, vinyl sales now pull in over $1 billion annually. The resurgence has brought records back to the forefront of music culture.
Don’t miss your opportunity to find your favorite vinyl record Saturday July 18, at the Metro Chattanooga Record Show at the Colonnade in Ringgold, GA.
Metro Chattanooga Record Show
- Saturday July 18, 2026
- 9:30 a.m. Early Bird Admission only - $10
- Show runs from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. – admission $3
- The Colonnade, 264 Catoosa Circle, Ringgold, GA.
Jax-Wax: Quality LP Records
- Inside the Ringgold Feed & Seed Antiques
- 403 High Street, Ringgold, GA 30736
- Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.
- Sunday-Monday 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- (706) 935-7333
- Jax Wax On Facebook