Why Amro Music is My Favorite Music Store in the City of the Blues

My first memory of Amro Music in Memphis, Tennessee involves strolling in from sheer curiosity, looking for supplies to care for the beloved flute I’d had since high school. Fast forward fifteen years to bringing in my son, a wide-eyed sixth-grader, to select his first instrument for band, and I was hooked.

Why is Amro Music my first choice when my son needs music supplies? I could tell you some of the wonderful contributions the store makes to the world around it: how its representatives visit schools within up to a 150 mile radius to ensure the kids have what they need to keep playing music, how data compiled by Music Trades magazine lists Amro as one of the top 100 music companies in the nation, how so many adult music students have fulfilled lifelong dreams to begin learning to play the piano in as little as eight lessons, or that it provides approximately eighty people with a full time job. Or I could mention its cool history: how it was founded in 1921 by Mil Averwater and his business partner during a “temporary” layover in Memphis in a time when early-model Fords dodged streetcars on cobblestoned paths, or some of the famous music lovers who’ve given their patronage such as Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Elton John, and John Mayer.

While fascinating, that’s not what sets Amro Music apart in my mind. My heart was touched the first time I brought my high-functioning autistic son to choose his first instrument for band and a perky salesman soothed a worried mother’s bullying concerns. You see, my son firmly chose a clarinet, an instrument some view as traditionally played by females, because it reminded him of the recorder he’d played during elementary music class. (Don’t talk to me about Benny Goodman, middle school kids can be ruthless and I wanted to know what we were getting into…) That same little boy is now spending his Friday nights playing in the band under the bright lights of the Arlington High School football stadium and loves every minute of it. My affection was further cemented when the time came to trade in his rental and purchase something a little better – instead of pressuring us into something more expensive, Amro Music staff helped us find an exceptional used instrument that’s been just what he needed.

Amro Music again showed me why they are who they are when I called the store, asked to speak to a manager, and found myself on the phone with C.J. Averwater, great-grandson to Amro’s founder. I couldn’t help but ask what had drawn him into actually working inside the store, thinking to myself how common it was nowadays for family-owned businesses to be handed to someone else for management or even sold within a generation of being founded. C.J. illustrated what makes Amro special by giving this answer: “You know, it was working with the school bands that really set me down the path… There’s just something special about watching them coax music from their instruments for the first time. If you ask anyone who works here, they’ll probably tell you something like that.”

Amro Music to me is worth driving past other stores on my trek from suburbia to midtown Memphis; in fact, they’re worth a hotel stay in my opinion if you or your child feels your pulse pick up at the idea of flipping through rows of sheet music, of tickling the ivories of pianos you might never otherwise touch, or watching your daughter notch a petite violin under her chin for the first time. They’re just a little different in the way only truly dedicated artists can be, and C.J. is ready and willing to show you how contagious the love of music can become. Enjoy the trip!


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