Scott Schwebel and Pat Evans, friends since the fourth grade, went out one day searching for a particular album. Driving around their hometown of Bakersfield, California, they hit up five record stores with no luck. Not only did the stores not have the album, but Pat also says no one even cared. By the time they returned to Scott’s house, they had decided to open a record store despite having no idea where to begin.
With a tremendous amount of sweat equity and help from friends and family, World Records opened on June 12, 1982. Scott and Pat were just 22 and 23 years old.
They kept their day jobs, not positive the store could support them. Three months later, Scott went to dinner with his fiancé and died in a wreck on the way home. Pat was devastated and not sure how he would move forward. He even went to law school, but in the end, he decided that he owed it to Scott to make their dream a success, and he quit his job as a financial analyst to focus on the store.
“We both had a love of music and became aware of artists and music we had not previously listened to, including bluegrass,” says Pat. “We carry popular music, but we also carry harder-to-find selections. People enjoy discovering an artist for the first time in our store.”
As record sales morphed into CD sales, then streaming became a thing, Pat began to wonder how he could keep the business afloat. The store moved to its second location, closer to CSU Bakersfield. In a 2022 article in SFGate.com, Pat told reporter Andrew Pridgen that he mapped out the new store with great intention. “I designed a store where we have every artist available to listen to. You walk in and there are four or five main rooms with each playing different music. And not just rock or country, but world beat, bluegrass, folk, and jazz – music that young people may not consider otherwise.”
The new store became a popular stop for both locals and music lovers traveling between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Eventually, the store’s reputation grew, and touring musicians, agents, promoters, and A&R talent scouts began to stop at the store.
Pat realized the local music scene was lacking. “Established artists would come to town and play in the Civic Auditorium, but the smaller acts who play at mid-sized clubs and outdoor venues were passing us by.”
It bothered Pat, especially since Bakersfield was once a thriving town for music. In the 1970s, there were nearly fifty music publishing companies in Bakersfield, and the musicians' union had 326 members. The town also supported several small-to-medium-sized music venues. With country music royalty Merle Haggard and Buck Owens as full-time residents, Bakersfield’s Chamber of Commerce promoted the town as the Musical Capital of the West.
Determined to bring back that reputation, Pat decided to host a concert. It was 1997, and Fiona Apple, a relatively unknown teenage piano prodigy, was touring to promote her debut album, Tidal. It was a good bet for Pat, as the album produced six singles and sold more than 3.5 million copies. Apple won a GRAMMY the following year for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
“Our next show in 1997 was Allison Kraus and Union Station,” recalls Pat. “We had to drag people to that show. People around here just weren’t familiar with her. When we brought her back in 2003, the show sold out.”
Not all the shows are big-name artists. Pat says when a performer gets on the stage and half or more of the audience doesn’t know them, they have to give it everything they’ve got. “It never gets old watching an artist win over an audience.”
The next step was to build a concert venue. Pat purchased a defunct furniture store that opened in 1966. He put his record store in the front of the 8,500-square-foot building, and he built a venue in the back. “The acoustics in the building were surprising. It’s like it was meant to be.” He calls it the best concert hall no one outside of Bakersfield knows about…yet. In addition to music performances, the venue is used for reunions, receptions, and other special events.
The venue’s first show was on May 6, 2017, with blues legend Elvin Bishop. Soon, bands, including Spyro Gyra, Los Lobos, and artists Petula Clark, Tommy Castro, Herb Albert, and Petula Clark, came to play in the record store/music venue.
Pat promotes his old-school shows with a mailing list and posters hanging in his record store. He sells paper tickets custom-made for each show. There is no ticket in your Apple wallet. You will not find a QR code, a text reminder, or a link on social media. Best of all, you will not see a service charge. Pat says that as a music fan, he hated to pay $30 for a $20 ticket. He sells concert tickets in the store and by phone, and if you don’t have your paper ticket, you can pick it up from the will-call window, most likely from Pat himself.
“I work to bring in highly acclaimed artists in order to enhance the culture in my community. Building a venue was the step we needed to take to bring artists to this town. I love what I do, and I think every record store doing their own thing is fantastic.”
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