Who we are

Hailing from the Appalachian Mountains of Harlan County, Kentucky, there is only one word to describe Shawn Brock’s music and life experiences, and that word is diverse. Due to being born with a visual impairment, which inhibited him in his favorite sport of baseball, Shawn began his musical endeavors at the age of nine. Brock gained a reputation as a champion flat-picker on both mandolin and guitar, and by the age of eleven, he had established a unique style which combined elements of his favorite guitar players, Tony Rice, Carlos Santana, Angus Young, and others. During his high school years, Shawn broadened his musical interests into jazz and classical and became an All-State nominee in both choir and saxophone. Additionally, he spent time studying violin, bass, and drums, along with cutting his teeth in the recording studio, where he produced two solo albums, and performed on countless others for local musicians. His reputation grew quickly, and Brock appeared regularly on the Wood Songs Old Time Radio Network, in addition to television appearances on TNN, WKYT, MNN, WPAC, and others. Tabloids also took note of his youthful talent, and Shawn was the subject of feature articles in the Lexington Harold Leader, Louisville Courier-Journal, The Associated Press, and more.

At 18 years of age, he left the mountains of Kentucky for first New York City, then Cincinnati Ohio. It was at this time that he honed his skills as a session musician and composer, and recorded music for many television series such as Becker, Law and Order, and others, along with commercial jingles for Hallmark, Folgers Coffee and Kodak, just to name a few. These experiences culminated in a move to Nashville, where he was a first call session musician and touring professional, assisting act such as Big and Rich, Sara Evans, Lonestar, and dozens of others. He has performed on more than 1,300 recordings for artists all over the world. In addition to being a composer/sound designer for most major television networks.

He was introduced to Music retail operations as a teenager, when he took his first after school job, giving guitar lessons in a Music Store. However, a lot has changed since those times, and the mega music retailers have brought about the decline and closure of the mom-and-pop type stores. Unfortunately, this has also led to a lack of knowledgeable and educated staff, and true musicians being employed at retail outlets. This is where we come in; guided by decades of professional performance, recording and teaching, we strive to bring knowledge, credibility and honesty back to music retail, and believe if a product is not good enough for us to use, it's not good enough for our customers.

Any musical instrument worth more than $1000 in value, has an accompanying and detailed video demo, to allow the customer to evaluate its suitability based on his or her wants and desires. Each instrument is thoroughly evaluated/ assessed for repairs and maintenance and set up if needed prior to offering it for sale. We can discuss attributes of each instrument, simply because we know how to play them, and strive for quality and satisfaction over quantity, and lust for sales numbers. We have no desire to be the biggest guitar shop in the world, but to be the best, and believe that to achieve that, it starts with top notch customer service, fair prices and unbeatable products.