Reanimated Next: 8-Tracks?

No, really.

"A band I'm in, Dupree, put out an 8-track in addition to a vinyl LP," says local guitarist Jake Langley.

A format even dustier and further back on Goodwill's shelves than cassettes? Austin jazz organ trio Dupree isn't exactly a band comfortably filed next to Seventies relics like Boston and Deep Purple 8-tracks. Suddenly that Z-28 glove box is getting crowded.

"It was a very popular format, particularly with Blue Note, but also Prestige and Verve released a lot of music on 8-track," says Langley. "You have to realize, pre-cassette, most cars had 8-track players. It was the only portable form of music out there. Jazz was trying to get fans to take their music on the road, or to the beach. Take it around."

But, but, but – 8-tracks!?

"There's a sound that they have that I grew up with, and the other guys in the band did, too. We also thought it would be enjoyable for people who grew up with that to be able to buy a brand-new one, though I'm not sure how many people are making 8-tracks. We might be the only group that has an 8-track in the last 30 years, right?"

There was Cheap Trick's The Latest in 2009.

"Yep! In fact, we knew about that, because that's how we found out how to get ours manufactured. There's a little mom and pop operation in Arlington that made the Cheap Trick 8-tracks. That's who made ours [KTS Productions: www.ktsprod.com].'"

Dupree's Nuestro Camino 8-track has, in fact, sold out. It's on reorder (www.dupreeband.com).