The Acoustic Shoppe
A Family Affair
Photos by Cole Simmons
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
In 1850, when Elizabeth Barrett Browning opened her Sonnet Number 43 of Sonnets From The Portuguese, she wasn’t thinking of bluegrass music! Bill Monroe was not yet even a gleam in his daddy’s eye. Still though, for a lover of bluegrass, those famous words can resonate today like the glistening tones of a pre-war Martin Herringbone or an authentic Lloyd Loar mandolin.
In the Rocky Mountain State of Colorado, three brothers, John, Jeremy and Jason Chapman were born into an ordinary albeit very talented family, grew up as members of their family band The Chapmans, and have continued through their lifetimes to manifest their love of bluegrass in a myriad of ways as they have met the challenges of living the life throughout the changing of the times we live in.
Sometime around 1983, Bill Chapman, having moved to Colorado with his wife Patti, had a life-altering experience. A talented keyboard player who was into classical music and showtunes, Bill was shopping at a mall outside Denver where a bluegrass band happened to be playing. Bill was captivated by the sound; it was love at first listen, and it launched the Chapman Family on the path they continue to follow today.
Papa Bill began to seek out bluegrass music where he could find it performed locally, and after taking Patti and the kids to a few local festivals, he bought a banjo at Montgomery Wards. There was no turning back. At age six, eldest son John was introduced to the fiddle and started Suzuki method lessons. After a few years John switched to guitar, his true love. Soon father and son were playing together as a duo and getting together with friends to pick. Meanwhile, Ma Patti took a shine to the bass, and brother Jeremy picked up the mandolin. After a while, youngest brother Jason took up the fiddle and The Chapman Family Band was complete.
Unlike some family bluegrass outfits, such as The Renos or The McCourys, The Chapmans did not emerge out of generations of ancestral and cultural roots in bluegrass and old-time country music. You might say that the “high lonesome sound” struck a chord deep down inside the Chapmans that resonated into an irrepressible motivation to follow that sound wherever it may take them. And take them it did, from playing local gigs in and around Denver to festivals in the Midwest, and ultimately to full-time touring nationally by the time John reached the age of 14.
While bluegrass music may not have been genetically or even culturally imprinted into the Chapman DNA, the love for the music and the lifestyle as entertainers is apparently cellular. With a drive to learn, and a generous helping of talent, they taught themselves to play, working hard with a serious aim to become musicians performing at a high level. With their engaging personalities, the Chapmen family forged great friendships and relationships with top-flight musicians such as Tim Stafford, and Pete Wernick and many more from whom they could learn and with whom they could share. They were truly a home-grown, organic product: a band self-taught and motivated by the purest aim, “to love the life they live, and live the life they love.”
After years of hard touring, numerous recording projects, and winning recognition from their peers on the bluegrass circuit, practical travel matters began to factor into their decision making. They lived in Colorado, but most tours took them eastward close to the East Coast. The long commute began to wear on everyone, and Papa Bill began to research new desirable and safe locations for the homestead. They settled on the Springfield, MO area in the Ozark Mountains, making a permanent move there in 1998. From there they found that they could continue touring heavily but with a lot less wear and tear.
During the first decade of the 2000s, the boys began to share their love of the instruments they played by beginning to teach private students. All the brothers are natural “born entertainers,” and they clearly love performing, but their passion for the music extends strongly toward their interest in the instruments themselves. Teaching offered a way to continue to nurture friendships and relationships not only with other musicians, but also with aspiring musicians of all ages.
The role of teacher is something they have very naturally grown into, just as their growth as musicians proceeded without force or coercion. As their student body grew, their time began to be divided more and more between touring and teaching on the home front. By 2012 they were renting a studio in Springfield dedicated to teaching lessons, and when they were offered the opportunity to expand into the entire building they decided to take that leap, and The Acoustic Shoppe officially opened in May, 2013. From that point onward touring for the most part ceased and their full attention and effort was brought to bear on the development of their new business.
The tale of the business is another “pull ‘em up by their own bootstraps” story. With a capital investment of only $5,000, their entire savings, they renovated their new store space, moved in, and began to acquire inventory. In the world of musical instruments, $5,000 does not go far when it comes to purchasing goods for sale. In the beginning, at times they were forced to hang their own personal instruments on the walls to make it look as though they had something to sell. They would explain to interested shoppers that, “…this instrument is already spoken for, but if you want one like that we can order it for you!” Because they were able to support themselves by teaching and with the occasional performing gigs, they immediately and consistently cycled all profits from the retail sales back into the business. Gradually the business grew in this way, and today the walls are lined with many quality new and preowned instruments of all varieties. Everything necessary for bluegrass, old-timey, folk music and more can be found in the Shoppe. Orchestral as well as fretted instruments are carried and lessons are available on all instruments for all styles of music, including vocal lessons.
The road on the Chapman’s journey of course has had its share of bumps; most notably the COVID pandemic presented some major challenges. With the onset of the lockdown in March 2020, the brothers reacted with characteristic affirmative activity. Rather than shut down and go home, they shut down and used the opportunity to re-renovate the store space and give the business a much-needed facelift. They improved their retail floor plan, improved their lesson room spaces, and upgraded the ventilation and climate control system for the Shoppe. By June 2020 state restrictions were beginning to be lifted and partial re-opening began. At this time the re-opening has continued to be phased in and the Shoppe is able to accommodate customers and students in-store at 70% capacity.
With fortuitous foresight, the family had already developed a strong online presence well before the pandemic struck, and this allowed for significant continuity for all the business activities. They had also already been experimenting with home concerts and “virtual” concert presentations online. As a demonstration of their dedication to their local community and their music community at large, they presented the “Music Can’t Be Quarantined” series. This was a series of benefit concerts online from which all profits went to the performing artists and their crews. In this way the Chapman family raised significant sums of cash, donating their time and energy, their facilities and technical know-how to help support musicians and music industry workers through a time of dire need.
Just as the Chapman family has had great success in performance and education, they now enjoy success as music merchants. They’ve been awarded their place on the NAMM “top 100” stores list for seven years running, and have a strong and appreciative clientele. Hard work, do-it yourself gumption, and unwavering dedication to the music, and the people they love has made the Chapman Family a shining example of what rewards may be reaped when you, as Joseph Campbell famously advised, “follow your bliss.”
With the years of sharing their talent and musical accomplishments, teaching those who have followed, and serving their greater community, looking forward the music community in Springfield, MO and nationwide can be glad to know that the Chapman Family’s love and dedication remains steady and true.
Discography:
Notes From Here 1999 Pinecastle Records
Follow Me 2001 Pinecastle Records
Simple Man 2005 Pinecastle Records
Grown Up 2010 Compass Records
