8521 Allentown Pike - Blandon - PA 19510

By Carole Duran, The Arts Connection, Vol 7, No 11, 7/2000

 

KUTZTOWN--The owners of Meadowood, a new music store at 233 W. Main St., won't let their customers buy junk or make an uneducated decision on an instrument, accessory, lesson or repair. Paula Taylor and Mike Andrews, musicians themselves, visited a lot of music stores to learn about the business before they opened in March. 

 

The largest single influence on how Meadowood chooses its product lines and treats its customers is Baltimore Bluegrass in Baltimore, Md. 

 

While Meadowood's focus is acoustic stringed instruments, the store has access to percussion, woodwind, brass and keyboard instruments, accessories and sheet music. In the mainstream of the store's focus are a full line of C. F. Martin (an authorized Martin repair facility), Seagull and Raimundo guitars, Weber and Kentucky mandolins, Deering banjos and Hofner, Knilling, Wilfer and custom vioins. Andrews is a violin builder and trained instrument repair technician. Meadowood offers metronomes, tuners, bows, rosin, strings, straps, humidifiers, polishes and a host of other accessories. The store's regular inventory includes Shure microphones, micorphone stands, music stands, instruments stands, Crate acoustic amps and Fishman and McIntyre pickups to be installed on acoustic instruments. 

 

There are instructional books and videos from publishers such as Hal Leonard, Berklee, Mel Bay and Homespun and recorded music on labels including Rounder, Green Linnet, Flying Fish, Sugar Hill, Rebel, Vanguard, Yazoo, Shanachie. The musical genres represented include Bluegrass, Blues, Cajun, Celtic, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Country, Folk, Gospel, Klezmer and Zydeco. Meadowood also offers recordings by local artists, including Frog Holler, Dean Smith and John Lyons and the Blue Diamonds (note: The Druckenmiller Family and Motto have been added to the local talent represented in Meadowood's CDs). 

 

Meadowood offers lessons on guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, mandolin and banjo. All of the instructors perform profesionally and have formal musical training. The store keeps a database of information about qualified instructors for violin, keyboard, brass, woodwind, vnd percussion and will make referrals on request. 

 

The store hosts open bluegrass jams from 6 to 10 pm (note...they end at 9, but folks don't always clear out 'til 10) every Tuesday and open mics from 7 to 10 pm the second to last Saturday of the month, from May to September in the Kutztown Park bandshell.