We live in an age where it seems like all music ever recorded is available online. But as dedicated crate diggers are well aware, some records are still elusive. A new book by Josh Rosenthal, head of independent record label Tompkins Square, is a combination memoir/record guide that looks at the revolving mental process of one collector-entrepreneur.

The author shares his love of music not only through his book but through a record label that has reissued some of his own favorite, long-lost artists as well as new artists in a similar folk vein. The Record Store of the Mind discusses some of his favorites, and not just the ones on his label roster. Rosenthal writes of musicians you may know, like Alex Chilton; but more often, he writes about musicians you may not know, like folk singer Tia Blake, who recorded her sole album when she was 18 years old. This book will send you to Spotify, YouTube, and inevitably Discogs in search of obscure music that in some cases has yet to be reissued.

Rosenthal appears at Red Onion Records on Friday night, with special musical guest Bob Brown, a local folk singer whose albums will be reissued on Tompkins Square next month. DCist chatted with the record label owner about records.

DCist: The title of your book suggests something that you refer to in passing as a record you dreamed about. Do you remember a record you dreamed about?

Josh Rosenthal: I wish I did remember something like that! Usually I have dreams about records that don’t exist. They torture you because then you wake up and realize that record doesn’t exist. That makes you very sad.

Bob Brown’s 1971 album WILLOUGHBY’S LAMENT, which will be reissued on Tompkins Square next month.

DCist: I’ve had that dream too. Can you tell me how you discovered D.C. folkie Bob Brown, whose albums you’ll be reissuing next month?

Rosenthal: Well because I’m a digger I’ve had the records for quite some time. Always loved them. I located him and he was eager to do it but we had to clear it with Richie Haven’s estate first [Havens produced the albums for his Stormy Forest label]. That took some time, but ultimately Haven’s estate gave the masters back to Bob and he could do whatever he wanted with them, and that cleared the way for Tompkins Square to reissue them.

It’s really a D.C. story, he’s lived in the area pretty much his whole life. It reflects an era that’s long gone. That was his moment, and it never crystalized in terms of commercial appeal, but he’s having another lap where people can appreciate these records again.

DCist: Is there anything else coming up on Tompkins Square that you’re really excited about?

Rosenthal: Yes. I’m putting out the Bob Brown records on May 13th. I just signed an artist named Brigid Mae Power. Her album is coming out June 10th. On Record Store Day we’re putting out a Kid Millions record. He was in Oneida, an indie rock band that still sort of exists, and he’s worked with Laurie Anderson and Yo La Tengo. For Record Store Day he did a remix album of music by Harry Taussig, whose music I reissued on Tompkins Square. Harry’s playing New York City tonight [April 6] for the first time, and we’re doing a release event for that album. The record takes the music of Harry Taussig and remixing it. Kid basically fucks with it. I’ve released three other Harry Taussig records and I’m releasing a fourth on April 22nd called Too Late To Die Young.

Rosenthal will read from The Record Store of the Mind, followed by a live set from local legend Bob Brown, on Friday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at Red Onion Records, 1628 U St NW.

Listen to Bob Brown perform “It Takes a World to Make a Feather Fall,” from his 1970 album The Wall I Built Myself:

Listen to Bob Brown’s first live performance in 33 years:

Listen to Brigid Mae Power perform “It’s Clearing Now”:

Listen to Kid Millions’ rework of Harry Taussig’s “Piano Wire”:

Listen to Harry Taussig perform “Cloudy, Cloudy is the Stuff of Stones”: