Quinn Bishop remembers the first time that he ever set foot into Cactus Music. He was 12 or 13 years old at the very tail end of the 1970s when—after his incessant imploring—his parents let him “pop into” the original store’s location on Shepherd Drive.
“We just didn’t come downtown all that much because we lived in Cypress. But any way I could con my parents into stopping at a record store, that was the game!” the now 57-year-old Bishop says via Zoom from his front porch. “But my visit was cut short!”
He didn’t end up buying any discs that day, but soon began to regularly visit two record stores in Memorial City Mall and then one of the Cactus satellite locations at Willowbrook. He began to amass a record collection as his thirst and curiosity for music only grew.
“I was into classic rock and hard rock, but I also really liked a lot of the edgier ‘80s punk and new wave like The Clash,” he says. “It caused me to break with some of my friends. Hair metal was not my thing! I also got into Neil Young and Bob Dylan. And do you know how many yards I had to mow just to buy Beatles records?”
Shortly after high school, he got a job at that Willowbrook location. Promotions and transfers followed, until he became the General Manager around 1995 at that Shepherd spot.
Today, he’s one of four co-owners of Cactus Music as the store celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Not only one of the best record stores in the city (they’ve won the top title multiple times from both the Houston Press and Houston Chronicle), but also among contenders for on both Texas and U.S. lists. Cactus celebrates its golden anniversary this year.
The Cactus story begins all the way back in 1946 when country music producer, Starday Records co-founder, and entrepreneur Harold W. “Pappy” Daily opened Daily’s Record Ranch in Houston.
The store soon became a hub not only for music listeners, but the site of appearances and in-store performances (some broadcast on KNUZ radio) from legends like Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb, in town to play live at the nearby Houston Hoedown nightclub.
Decades later, Daily’s sons Bud and Don opened Cactus Records and Tapes in 1975 while later expanding to other locations in the city and dipping heavily into the home video business—and one point rebranding as Cactus Music and Video.
After the brothers Daily retired in 2006 (Bishop says he “can’t say enough nice things about them”), they allowed Bishop and business partners Bruce Levy, The Saint Arnold Brewery and George Fontaine of New West Records, to continue the store at its current home on Portsmouth. With one section named in honor of Pappy’s original store.
One aspect of Cactus Music that has only increased is the number of record signings and in-store performances. Over the years the Ramones, the Police, Patti Smith, Alice Cooper, Townes Van Zandt, Phillip Glass, Tame Impala, Sleater-Kinney, and Charlie XCX have been inside its walls. Graham Nash and Derek Trucks have informally stopped by to shop while in town for gigs.
And most recently, red-hot Houston band Khruangbin played a surprise in-store set for fans the night before a massive homecoming gig at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Cactus also hosts music book authors for readings, talks and Q&As. Cristina Acuna is the current General Manager and social media doyenne.
“We’ve had Charlie XCX three times. And I remember the first one was a performance where she had an all-girl band dressed up as nurses,” he says.
“There’s always an ask on our part, but sometimes our reputation precedes us. And when I’m pitching for an artist to come to our store, they know we can handle huge events. When we had the 1975, there were 350 people in the store and 350 people outside waiting for autographs.”
Bishop and Cactus have seen the media and format for music consumption change over the years. But one thing that he would have never predicted is the huge resurgence and current interest in vinyl. Both in collecting used LPs and catalog titles/new releases coming out on the format.
“No one could have anticipated that!” Bishop laughs. “To have so many young people buying records. Music has always been around in multiple formats, but nobody knew that LPs would be the rising tide that would float all music store boats. Nobody could have predicted that. And if someone says they did, they’re lying!”
In fact, Bishop says that today 75 percent of Cactus’ business is in vinyl, with the rest in CDs—though they do also sell used cassettes and the occasional stray 8-track.
“[Vinyl] has just kept moving and moving. For so many years there were no vinyl records in production for the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or the Doors. It was all niche-ey stuff or small labels,” Bishop offers. “Now, vinyl has kind of taken over everything in the store!”
Even when bands are in town to play but can’t make it to the store, Bishop now arranges “green room signings” so that Cactus still has autographed merchandise to sell. After one recently with contemporary southern rockers Blackberry Smoke, Bishop says that their tour manager made a point of telling him they’d worked together before when he was in the same position for singer/songwriter Pat Green.
“Pat would stay and sign for hours and hours!” Bishop remembers. “All these people that have been in the Cactus orbit come back to it, and that’s been really fun.”
Bishop also appears on “The Drop,” a regular segment on Fox 26 news with reporter Ruben Dominguez in which the pair discuss that week’s new releases and other music news.
In the realm of greater media, many people get an idea of how things run in record stores from movies like High Fidelity and Empire Records. And while he may take issue with the realism of some plot points, he says that they do get one thing right.
“Record store culture is a very tangible thing. And it’s more impactful now that it ever has been before. People are getting their music digitally or listening to it on their own or watching online, but that means you’re not engaging with people who also love music,” he says.
“Houston has a bunch of great record stores run by fiercely independent, very cool people in our city. And we’re a place for people to gather and congregate to discuss and enjoy and talk about music. You can find a kindred spirit here. I love hearing customers who don’t know each other talk across the aisle.”
He mentions a favorite quote from Bruce Springsteen in the documentary All Things Must Pass about the Tower Records chain. Springsteen recalls whenever the band came to L.A. they’d head right over to the Hollywood location not only to shop but be with other people who got them.
“Bruce said something like ‘Everyone in a record store is your friend for 20 minutes,” Bishop recalls. “And I really like that comment!”
Finally, when Bishop is asked how Cactus Music has a Houston stamp that it would not have in any other city, he puts his hand to his cheek to think. But not for long.
“That’s an easy question. The music of our city is so diverse and so impactful on multiple genres. The ‘60s classic rock, the ‘70s singer-songwriters, metal and Tejano in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and our greatest export now, hip hop and rap,” he offers.
“Our music is so rich; it’s not defined by a single genre. In Houston, it’s everything happening at once. That may mean we lack the identity that other cities have, but we elevate everything. We have the heritage. And Houston is not one note when it comes to music.”
For more on Cactus Music, visit CactusMusicTX.com
For more on Jay Dryden’s photography visit JayDrydenPhoto.com
