“Records sound warmer and deeper, and richer,” says Greg Sutherland, owner of Eugene’s House of Records, as he polishes a dusty vinyl at his desk. “A CD or mp3 code or an iPod sounds like a photograph to me, whereas a record is the original. A photograph is just flat, its two dimensional,” he says before lifting his arms and gesturing to the space around him, “there’s skin and bones and blood and all that, that a record contains.” He focuses back onto the polished vinyl, carefully placing it into its sleeve before finding a spot for it on the shelves behind him.

Greg Sutherland became the owner of House of Records about a year ago, but his connection to the store, and to records, started long before then. “I’ve always loved music,” says Sutherland, “my grandmother told me that when I was a child, I used to stand in my crib and grab the sides and stare intensely at the radio.” Sutherland grew up in LA, but moved to Medford, Oregon in 1977 where he would buy his first record, ‘Bad Girls’ by Donna Summers.

Greg’s love for collecting records really began when he was introduced to the Beatles. By 1980, Greg had entered high school and joined the school’s radio station. One day, he pulled out a Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 compilation. “The front and back covers were the same pictures of the Beatles, one taken in 1962 and one taken in 1970.” Greg loved how the covers showed the age of the band and admired “the way that the Beatles changed over time, and everyone else kind of changed with them.”

As new wave music began to come out in the 1980’s Greg bought what he liked on cassette but saved his allowance to buy the Beatles albums on record. By 1983, Greg moved to Eugene to start school at the University of Oregon. The city offered an array of record stories that just weren’t around in Medford, allowing his collection to skyrocket. 3 Years later, Greg got a job at House of Records. “After that, I really delve deeper into music. In general, I found out about Jazz, soul, funk, disco and hip hop,” he said.

By 1999 through 2005, House of Records made less money each year than it did the year before. “iPods took over the world for a few years there,” said Greg. “Around the middle of that decade, I think people started to check out records, and found out ‘wow, its more than just a good sound.’” Greg picks up the record he’s polishing now and says, “you know, look at it, that’s a cool photo! And look how they make it so easy to read, white with black print,” he says as he runs his hands over the inside of the album cover, which offers a written story about the production of the music inside. “You look at it and you want to hear it.”

Today, Greg owns over 32,000 collected records and is married to his wife Martha, who he met working at House of Records in 2002. He is working on a history of the store right now, and hopes to remain working there as long as he can stand.