Big News
March 8, 2024
Good Morning, Y'all!
Big news in today's shop blog. Big for me, anyway, and big for Folkcraft. Y'all won't see much of anything different, but I'm excited anyway.
First, some background...
Years ago, I started a full-line music store here in the small town of Woodburn, Indiana. We sold pianos, band instruments - all the accessories you could imagine - and of course, music books. We had a full staff of private instructors and taught hundreds of private lessons each week. We didn't carry much in the way of lighting or audio equipment. Our focus was on instruction and the things our teachers and students needed.
When the Internet came along, we made up a website, and started selling our sheet music and accessories online. We were early enough to the internet that Amazon, Walmart, and all the other giant retailers weren't online in any meaningful way (or at all!). We ended up growing to become the third largest sheet music retailer in the country. Warner Bros. and Hal Leonard were sending sales reps to visit us in Woodburn! It was an amazing time to be in business - a small music store in Woodburn, Indiana, was able to compete on the national stage.
The Writing On The Wall
By the time I bought Folkcraft from David Marks in 2007, the writing on the wall was obvious, though. Print music was in a general decline - print media of any type, really, but especially sheet music. The competition (think Amazon) was fierce for the declining sales volume. And the remaining music publishers were in a rapid consolidation/contraction cycle.
The Most Exciting Time Of My LIfe
Yet I was entering the most exciting time of my life - dulcimer making, dulcimer playing, and being with dulcimer people. Through the dulcimer, I met Bing Futch, Wendy Songe, Dave Haas, and the rest of the Folkcraft Artists. I met my wife, Aly. And I met many of you.
But my love for print music has never left the back of my brain. The sheer artistry of the arrangements. The hundreds of hours of work that go into each book. To say "I really like music books" would be an understatement. So when I bought Folkcraft, I started the slow expansion of the dulcimer book selection we offered. We went from a few dozen books to many scores (pun intended!) of dulcimer books. And I started commissioning some of the top mountain dulcimer artists to write books for Folkcraft. Bing Futch and Steve Seifert have both sold us some amazing titles which we now publish in-house.
A few years ago, we had the opportunity to acquire Aaron O'Rourke's catalog of dulcimer books, and that worked out really well for us (and for Aaron!). And more recently, we purchased the rights to Mike Anderson's catalog. And that brings us to today's "Big News."
But my love for print music has never left the back of my brain. The sheer artistry of the arrangements. The hundreds of hours of work that go into each book. To say "I really like music books" would be an understatement. So when I bought Folkcraft, I started the slow expansion of the dulcimer book selection we offered. We went from a few dozen books to many scores (pun intended!) of dulcimer books. And I started commissioning some of the top mountain dulcimer artists to write books for Folkcraft. Bing Futch and Steve Seifert have both sold us some amazing titles which we now publish in-house.
A few years ago, we had the opportunity to acquire Aaron O'Rourke's catalog of dulcimer books, and that worked out really well for us (and for Aaron!). And more recently, we purchased the rights to Mike Anderson's catalog. And that brings us to today's "Big News."
Richard Ash and Shelley Stevens
Seventeen Amazing Titles!
While I was at the Dayton Dulcimer Doin's festival a few weeks ago, I got to meet with Shelley Stevens, and saw that she was closing out on her catalog of dulcimer books - 17 amazing titles! I worked out a deal with Shelley and now her entire catalog (minus one book that Mel Bay was able to get, grr!) is now published by Folkcraft Instruments. I am proud to carry Shelley's books at Folkcraft (and in a few weeks, at DulcimerDownloads.com), and I'm sure you'll welcome her catalog of books to your music collections, too.
I'm excited to add something new to the Folkcraft catalog, of course. But especially excited to add a catalog of books, from such a renowned teacher and arranger, to our growing self-published library of dulcimer tablature. Thanks, Shelley!
I'm excited to add something new to the Folkcraft catalog, of course. But especially excited to add a catalog of books, from such a renowned teacher and arranger, to our growing self-published library of dulcimer tablature. Thanks, Shelley!
Richard Ash - luthier-with-a-real-penchant-for-music-books-especially-dulcimer-books