In downtown McKinney, Red Zeppelin Records is expanding into a dive bar and music venue

Historic downtown McKinney is getting a music venue next year just like you would expect in Deep Ellum. Red Zeppelin Record Store turns into a dive bar with live music from local and touring bands, similar to Three Links.

Owner Katie Scott has already transformed McKinney’s cultural district. In 2015 she opened a vintage boutique, Groovy Coop, and in 2020 she opened a great record store, Red Zeppelin Records. In January 2021, she expanded Red Zeppelin into a record label focusing on emerging McKinney artists. The suburb has its own developing music scene that is different from other parts of north Texas, says Scott.

“We do our own thing and it’s hard to put it into a genre,” said Scott. She says most artists are under 30 and their music explores all sorts of rock trends from the 80s and 90s, always with a dark undertone. “It just becomes what it becomes, organic. But I think we’re going to see a wave of punk and grunge. We have a lot of skater kids who are in bands and have attended the School of Rock. “

Ben and Rose Sloma browse records at the Red Zeppelin, a record store in downtown McKinney.(Anja Schlein)

After booking shows in other areas, Scott realized the importance of having a local music venue in McKinney.

“It’s like we have to take McKinney elsewhere,” she says of putting together shows for Red Zeppelin artists in Deep Ellum and Denton.

Now she has rented the former hairdressing salon next door and will soon tear down the wall for the bar and location. She plans to open the bar in the spring, but the new space will be adding live music to the record store early next year.

“I create a place where relevant people want to come and play,” says Scott.

There are several McKinney bars, restaurants, and cafes that sometimes have live music, but mostly they book tribute and country acts. Scott wants to provide a decent venue for the young McKinney music scene, right on East Louisiana Street, the suburb’s old-fashioned main drag.

“I was always drawn to this area and fell in love with this whole community,” says Scott. “I think it’s important to do something unique and represent something that is underrepresented. And I agree to be the weird kid on the block. It seems to work.”

Red Zeppelin Records is located at 206 E. Louisiana Street, McKinney. redzeppelinrecords.com.

Red Zeppelin, a record store in downtown McKinney, is being expanded into a live music location and dive bar next door.(Anja Schlein)

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