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Fresno Music History: Gospel Music
- Nov 29 2011
- 2
Fresno Music History: Gospel Music - Started by Don Smith who was also in the Gospelaires singing group. I was talking to Charlie Daniels down at Sound Stage today and he told me Don started the music store in about 1948-49. It was first located on Mono street downtown but around 1960 they moved it to the location at 2901 N. Blackstone on the corner of Michigan ave. There's a furniture store there now.
Charlie eventually bought the store from Don and ran it for many years.
Here's a page from the Valley's Legends and Legacies book about Don Smith and his music store: http://tinyurl.com/86vcefq
I remember buying a used '63 Jazzmaster there from Charlie on consignment in about 1978. Doug Campbell still has the neck from that guitar on his Strat as I had ruined the body by sawing it with a sabre saw and routing it out for humbuckers with a drill, then spray painting it purple and putting black electrical tape as stripes. There worth a boatload now.
2 Comment(s) for "Fresno Music History: Gospel Music"
Thanks for the comment, rojones. You are right on about how nice and helpful Charlie and Don were to us poor kids who wanted the musical instruments but couldn't quite afford it. Lay-away was a way to a guitar, amp or drumset and now stores are re-discovering lay-away. M&V was also another one that was there for over 30 years, and like Starr's House of Music, nearby was was Potter Drugs where you could buy the records and then walk a few steps to get the lessons to learn how to play the licks on those records. The first LP I ever bought was Donovan's Sunshine Superman at Potter Drugs on 1st and McKinley.
Don Smith was a class act in every aspect of his life. I always felt welcome as a teenager going into Gospel Music. I didn't have much money in my pocket, but Charlie always found a way to make me deal that I somehow could afford whatever guitar I wanted at the time. It's sad to see the old building as something other than Gospel Music. It just doesn't match the memories I have in my head. I just can't imagine that I would have memories that have stayed with me a lifetime would be there for me if the mega guitar store was the place to go back in the day. We had Sound Stage, MV, and Gospel Music and every one of these stores was great place to shop for gear in the 70's and 80's.