Singer Kristin Hersh and her bandmates are wedged into the back wall of Kief’s Downtown Music, 823 Mass.

A modest-but-enthusiastic crowd squeezes between three rows teeming with CDs, hoping to get a better view.

“If you get too close then you’ll see how short we are,” Hersh quips while tuning her guitar before launching into a blistering rock anthem.

For her current tour with new project 50 Foot Wave, the Los Angeles-based Hersh decided to forgo the traditional club venue. The former leader of Throwing Muses only made one live appearance in Lawrence on Wednesday, and that was at this record store. Often musicians will book in-stores to support shows at clubs, but the success of these retail excursions has led a number of performers to consider it an either/or proposition.

“There are a lot of artists like Kristin who’s never had trouble getting deals,” says Kief’s manager Steve Wilson. “But they never really make any money on the records. In terms of promotion of the product, she’s been inclined to try a very direct, grass-roots approach.”

Lawrence record stores have been happy to accommodate these touring acts … or at least they have lately. Downtown’s most notable outlets have only recently revived the concept of in-store performances. It’s a trend that’s finding favor with both national and local artists.

“We’ve been pursuing this in earnest now for three or four months. We’ve had literally everything from four people turn up (for Nebraska songwriter David Dondero) to 200 people for the Super Furry Animals show,” Wilson says of the irreverent Welsh rock group.

“Our motivation is simply to offer our customers something that they’re probably not going to get at Best Buy or Hastings — something as in, ‘Here’s a musical performance by an artist you might like.’ And there’s the larger something like, ‘Hey, we’re here and we’re part of a community and we do things that are a little unusual.'”

Garden party

Fellow competitors at The Love Garden, 936 1/2 Mass., have also been dabbling with in-stores. Love Garden chose to reintroduce the idea after a long hiatus.

50 Foot Wave singer Kristin Hersh, bottom right, drummer Rob Ahlers and bassist Bernard Georges perform at Kief's Downtown Music, 823 Mass. The free event is one of many in-store concerts being embraced by Lawrence record retailers.

“The reason we stopped was all the duds,” says Love Garden manager Kelly Corcoran. “There is nothing worse than an in-store where nobody shows up. How much more Spinal Tap can a moment be?”

Corcoran recalls a recent performance from a Chicago band named A-Set that played to four people — two of whom were employees. However, he claims there are other reasons for steering clear of in-stores.

“To be perfectly honest, they hurt business more than they help it,” Corcoran divulges. “It often drives out the people that would have otherwise come to your store.”

He also says Love Garden gains little from the shows in terms of sales because the establishment encourages these musicians to sell their CDs directly to the public.

“We kind of shoot ourselves in the foot, but we basically do it because we like the artists,” he says, adding that the acts always play for free and don’t charge admission. “I personally feel like we have a great space for it, so I’ve tried to pursue bands that I care about.”

Steve Buren, manager of 7th Heaven, 1000 Mass., says he’s been involved with about half a dozen in-stores since being hired in August. Unlike at Love Garden, the retail chain does profit from album purchases at these events.

“If we get somebody in that no one has heard of and they’re playing at the Jackpot and want to play here in the afternoon, maybe they’ll sell a copy of something,” Buren says. “On the other hand, we’ve had bands like Lucero and The Starting Line that each sold 20 units or so. Then for Kottonmouth Kings we sold 80 — which is huge these days. Every kid in a 100-mile radius wanted to see the Kottonmouth Kings.”

Kelpie is one of many Lawrence bands that has played for in-store showcases at area record stores.

But Buren asserts the relationship was mutually beneficial with the stoner rock band because the members turned around and bought “a couple hundred dollars worth of smoking accessories from our pipe shop.”

Just like in Rolling Stone

While none of the businesses can pinpoint what has led to such an in-store renaissance in Lawrence, Kief’s says the idea originally was hatched to help out the local scene. Kief’s introduced a concept called Five O’Clock Shadow in which area bands would perform 5 p.m. Fridays at the store. The call went out for acts to submit their demos.

“We finally realized that we needed to talk to some more established bands — anybody from Conner to Vibralux — to start it off a little stronger than a bunch of high school kids with two songs recorded,” Wilson says. “But what we wound up doing was getting offered these Super Furry Animals or Sleepy Jackson-type events. Since we thought they worked for us, they were impossible to turn down.”

Wilson says his staff has been fine tuning the in-store operation by handling higher profile shows. In the process, they’ve figured out some things that will benefit Kief’s locally.

“Hopefully, by fall we’ll arrive at some kind of schedule,” he says. “Around back-to-school time, we’re definitely going to talk to some local bands about having a day or two-day event.”

On the flip side, Love Garden has already catered to a number of homegrown bands such as Kelpie, Conner and The Wilders. These shows are often done in conjunction with a CD-release party. (Rapper Approach will be the next Lawrence artist to be featured some time in June.)

“I asked Love Garden about playing there because it reminded me of when I first started going to shows,” says John Momberg, drummer for Kelpie. “I saw The Bubble Boys do an in-store, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I’d always go there to listen to records, and that was the first time I’d seen an in-store show. I’d only read about them in Rolling Stone.”

Momberg recalls the August gig helped his indie rock group sell a stack of its latest disc, “One.”

“We actually approached it like a regular show,” says Momberg, whose band leaves today for a three-week tour of the West Coast. “It was free, and a lot of people liked that idea. We set up kind of punk rock with a PA and one mic. It seemed to draw a lot more people than we would have thought.”

Career highlights

The spacious Love Garden is a little more user-friendly when it comes to in-stores than other retailers in Lawrence. The locale keeps a PA on the premises — a few mics, an amp head and speakers — that manager Corcoran compares to the old Replay Lounge setup.

While Love Garden originally scheduled three in-stores for the month of April, Corcoran goes back a few years when pointing to some of his favorite musical memories there. He lists Man or Astroman?, Yo La Tengo and The Grifters as some personal standouts. Of the more recent shows, he names British act Clearlake and Israeli band RockFour.

“We’re not going to book something unless the people who are working that day like it,” he explains.

Wilson’s legacy with Kief’s goes back some 25 years, although he can’t remember doing in-stores earlier than the late 1980s. He cites Josh Rouse, The Jayhawks and the recent Super Furry Animals as among his favorites to come through Kief’s.

“The most tawdry memory was one we did a long time ago at the old store featuring L.A. Guns,” Wilson says. “And they were signing young women’s breasts. That’s clear in my mind.”

Whether the recent crop of in-store performances is a growing trend or a chronic holdover from a time when live music had more of a cultural impact, it’s obvious artists still welcome the opportunity.

“I’m sure there’s an implicit understanding that, whether it’s to play acoustic or try new material or play a weird cover, it’s just a relaxed environment,” Wilson says. “I think musicians always appreciate that.”