Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Talley.
Hi Chris, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I got married and started teaching banjo and fiddle in my home. Got so many students that I decided to quit my job as a legal secretary in St. Louis and teach from home. Students needed instruments, so I would help them get instruments. I was storing instruments in our house for several years. Doing instrument repairs on the kitchen table. My husband, Earl Armstrong, wanted to start a music store and call it The Bluegrass Shack. We won this building about 20 years ago at an auction and started the Bluegrass Shack there. Friends and people from the community helped us get it going, including redecorating/painting/restoring the building. We bought and sold instruments and accessories, taught lessons (including having as many as six teachers here at one time), and started having jam sessions and workshops. Things didn’t work out with my husband and we ended up divorcing. Since this was the only job I had, and since I did all the teaching, I continued with the business. (We are friends and he still helps me out when I need it.) The first ten years, we sold a lot of instruments online. I created a website for us, www.thebluegrassshack.com, and it worked great for the shop. As the economy and Amazon changed things, the online business has really diminished, with shipping expenses being a huge part of that. It used to cost about $25 to insure and ship a fiddle just about anywhere in the United States. We even shipped to Germany, Canada, Israel, Alaska and England. Now the shipping costs for the very same item in the same box costs anywhere from $75-$125 to the US. I won’t even ship outside the continental US now due to costs and unreliability. I still have a lot of students, and there are four other teachers that teach here right now. I teach private lessons, group lessons, workshops and camps. I also am a Wernick Method Certified Teacher, and I teach every year for two weeks in May at Maryville College in Maryville, TN for Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp. I teach banjo, fiddle, guitar, dobro, mandolin, ukulele, upright bass, and even some of the school band instruments. (I was a band and choir director for eight years.) I also teach harmony singing, how to play in a group with others, songwriting, and do some vocal coaching. I am not a trained vocal teacher, so I stick to coaching on the basics like diction, pitch, finding the appropriate key in which to sing, and song selection. I do a large amount of repair work on banjos, fiddles, guitars and ukuleles. Sometimes other things come in and depending upon how busy I am, I take on other instruments. Community is very important to me. When the local nursing home was open (it is now closed), I would take groups of students there regularly to play music. We have held many contests, student concerts and recitals, our own version of the Hee Haw Show (for five years), square dances and contra dances, private house concerts, how-to workshops including how to build your own ukulele and how to do various simple repairs and maintenance on your instrument, and student parties and parade float participation. I’m not sure what else to write…
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think starting a business is ever a smooth road. Probably the hardest part has been the amount of time it takes and how many things I had to learn along the way. It was really nice to be able to finally hire an accountant after the first several years so that I didn’t have to do my own taxes. It is also hard to be a small business that is competing with large music stores that are online. People expect free shipping, free returns even if there is nothing wrong with the product (they just decided they didn’t want to play…). One of the things that really gets to me is people who come in to look at certain instruments, ask a ton of questions, spend two hours getting every piece of information from you, and then go buy online. I do believe our prices are very good and are competitive, but any amount you would pay more for in person would definitely be made up for by the service and backing that you get here. We can look at things, explain things, make adjustments and setups to instruments, offer trade-ins, and we are “real” people who care. Another thing that makes it hard to complete with larger stores is the ability of larger stores to purchase huge quantities of instruments and/or accessories. I can’t do that. And all the manufacturers offer bigger discounts to those stores. It is really a sad thing that the small businesses who need the price breaks the most don’t get them. St. Louis Music has come through for me on this at times, though. When I asked, they helped me get instruments for an East St. Louis School District at the discounted prices that larger stores received.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been playing music since I was five years old. My mom and dad started playing music in our house when I was five. My Uncle Walker played harmonica and I just adored him. He gave me my first Vest Pocket Harp and I learned to play it from the piece of paper that was included in the case. I can remember thinking I would become a famous harmonica player and that I would play in front of thousands of people! Daddy was very instrumental in my music. He taught me how to play guitar when I was 10 years old, and we would play together almost every evening. He played fiddle and I played guitar. We also sang together, and we would play at churches sometimes. My family went to bluegrass festivals almost every weekend in the summer, and I would play in informal jam sessions all day and half the night! I started playing banjo at 13. The banjo was a gift to my sister, Anna. She forbid me to touch it and that was all I needed to make me want it more than anything! Whenever Anna would leave the house, I would sneak into her bedroom and pull out the Pete Wernick Bluegrass Banjo Method Book and teach myself. When she gave it up, I already know how to play. I LOVED the banjo! It is still my favorite instrument…and I got to meet Pete Wernick when I was 16 when I went to one of his banjo camps. Pete and I have stayed in contact and we are somewhat friends and I teach for him. I had my own bluegrass band, The Chris Talley Trio (we were actually a quartet), for many years. Probably 20 years or so. We made six CDs and played for all kinds of events and festivals. We were even featured in the independent movie “Belleville.” (It’s on YouTube now, but it played in Wehrenberg and several other theatres.) We played on Prince Edward Island for the Red Clay Bluegrass Festival. We travelled to many different states for festivals, and locally played at Eckert’s and other venues. When the pandemic happened, we were done. My specialty is teaching. I love teaching both private lessons and groups. I am able to teach many people on different instruments at the same time how to play with each other. That is actually what Steve Kaufman hires me to do at his Kamp every year. I have taught there for the past five years. My class is for people who have never played or only know a few chords. I have four hours a day with them, and by the end of the first day, we can play a song together. By the end of the week, we can play many songs together. I work individually with people and groups of instruments, and what I teach is really personally catered to individuals. Those who can do more will get to do more. Those who are struggling or are more beginners will still be challenged and will learn to play, but they will have simpler parts that fit in well with everyone else. Singing and playing by ear are very important for bluegrass and folk music, so that is something that I stress in my teaching. Most people, even those who are staunchly against singing in public, will usually end up singing. And it’s a wonderful thing! Music SHOULD be for everyone! I am most proud of my ability to teach those that struggle. I would say my specialty within teaching would be for beginners. I have my own teaching methods, my own tabs (literally hundreds), my own books and DVDs. I create whatever my students need. I was making “backing tracks” for my students years before that became popular because it was what my students needed. I never thought of it as a money making thing (which is kind of a shame!). It was always included with lessons. I think the best part of taking lessons here is that people are exposed to a network of others that also want to play. They have the opportunity to not just learn how to play songs, but they learn how to do it with others. How to jam. How to make a band and what that band needs to do. I took over 20 youth bands to Silver Dollar City’s Youth in Bluegrass Competition over the years. Several bands placed in the top 5 over the years, with The Pickin’ Chicks being the most popular band/students that I ever taught.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Play with others as soon as possible! It is hard and you will fail many times, but it is the way to get better faster. It is also easier to make mistakes in front of others when you are first learning and can forgive yourself more. If you’ve played for 3 months, you don’t feel so embarrassed at your mistakes. You will make the pretty much the same mistakes at 3 months playing in front of others as you will at 10 years. You’ll just know more songs in 10 years. And I think my biggest mantra is “You have to actually do whatever it is that you want to be able to do.” You can’t prepare for playing with others by playing by yourself. You have to actually play with others. There is no substitute. Playing by yourself is important, as it allows you to learn HOW to play songs. But playing with others teaches you how to keep going, how to play backup, how to go from backup to lead and then back to backup. It also distracts you in a way that you don’t get distracted when playing by yourself. You have to learn to listen to others, block out what is not important, and follow songs that you have never heard before. I wish I had started singing more when I first started learning how to play.
Pricing:
- Lessons $25 Half Hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebluegrassshack.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluegrassshack
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisTalley1
- Other: https://www.chris-talley.com
