About Us

Yellow Racket is a place for music lovers to discover, hear, and buy new and pre-loved records in a beautiful space with a knowledgeable staff, great coffee, and comfy chairs.

Because music is more than just background noise.

Music is about the experience.



What makes Yellow Racket unique?

Est. 2020


In the Fall of 2018, I left a steady office job to found an independent record label called Yellow Racket Records. The first album we released on the label was Introspecter, Pt. 1, which I had written and recorded with my own band, Telemonster. Over the next several months, we signed Joel Harris, El Rocko, Summer Dregs, and MOMO. Still, within a year of starting the label, I was working as a farm hand in North Georgia just to make ends meet. Six months later, I was scrubbing toilets as a church janitor, and after that I stuffed envelopes and sent out birthday emails to members of a trucking association (usually after midnight so I could keep managing the label during the day).

At the beginning of 2020, we were attempting to launch a brick-and-mortar record store in Chattanooga, TN. But shortly after signing a lease on a building, most of the world shut down to brace for the impact of COVID-19. I forged ahead anyway and the shop eventually opened its doors in August of 2020.

It was the hardest year I could have imagined. Every time something went right, 2 more things went wrong. I even contracted COVID myself, forcing the record store to shut down for almost 2 weeks.

And yet, we're still here. And we don't plan on going anywhere any time soon.

- Ben VanderHart, Founder

  • Telemonster

    Chattanooga dad band. Founders of Yellow Racket.

    YouTube

    Spotify

  • MOMO.

    Brazilian-born. London-based. Songwriter extraordinaire.

    YouTube

    Spotify

  • El Rocko

    A little shoegaze. A little folk. A lot to love.

    Spotify

  • Summer Dregs

    Beat maker. Pop master. Skypunch Studios founder.

    YouTube

    Spotify

  • joel harris

    Songwriter. Soundscapist. Siren.

    YouTube

    Spotify