‘It’s a family’: Baum's Music owners reflect on business’ post-COVID bounceback

By Megan Gleason

The store has withstood the test of time. Baum’s Music, a local, family-owned music store, is coming up on its 78th year in business — offering quality private lessons, along with instrument sales and repairs.

Current owners Dan and Marcy Louton have been involved with the store for 24 years. The couple came to Baum’s Music, owned by Marcy Louton’s parents, in 2001 and purchased it in 2015.

Their kids worked at the store growing up until they went off to college, and now it’s just the Loutons and a few employees. The store, at 2908 Eubank NE, is open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get into music?

Marcy Louton: It was my parents. My parents met in high school in orchestra, and my mom was my dad’s accompaniment. My parents each played for different groups. My dad had a family quartet that played all over, and so it just wasn’t hard. My dad came to the University of New Mexico and that’s where he met Jerry Baum (son of Baum’s founder Elmer Baum), and they went to college together at UNM getting music degrees. So my dad bought it from Jerry.

My kids always had access to all the instruments they could ever want. They all played in school and took private lessons and all that. Getting into music was kind of a no-brainer.

And Dan never played music. I did in school, but you have to have a businessman in here too. You can’t all just be musicians. Somebody has to know how to pay the bills, fix the computer glitches, deliver the product, order product. He wears about 15 hats here. He runs the place.

What’s your instrument? And your kids’ instruments?

Marcy Louton: I played violin. I took after my dad (Our kids played) flute, violin, guitar, drums — they played a little bit of everything.

What do you love about Baum’s?

Marcy Louton: I love that it’s a family. I mean, it’s not just our family. We get grandparents now that took lessons here, and their kids took lessons here, and their grandkids are taking lessons here. We’ve withstood time, and considering all the changes that the world has gone through in all these years, the fact that we’re still here is a miracle. So I’m very proud of our store.

How did the pandemic affect the store?

Dan Louton: We were shut down. We were not considered a store that needed to be open. We were not essential. So I sat in a very quiet and dark store and hoped someone would call. Shipped things out, but there was no online music.

Marcy Louton: The schools were closed, so that right there eliminated a whole season of renting instruments. It started up again in the fall.

But the problem is, online music didn’t go great, so it did affect the band programs. They went down quite a bit. They’re rebuilding, but think about it, those kids in middle school that would have been going on to high school and performing and all those different things that they do, they had missed some crucial years to get ready for that. So the pandemic hurt music in the school system drastically, and it did affect our lessons and things, and it took a long time for the kids to come back.

How is the store bouncing back now? It’s been almost five years since the pandemic started.

Marcy Louton: We’re back to normal. We’re back to good.

Dan Louton: We’ve lost some teaching staff because they retired for the pandemic, and the lessons have gone down from what they were. We still have eight teachers here, eight studios that run lessons six days a week.

Marcy Louton: But, yeah, the store’s back to where it was. Unfortunately, everybody got quite comfortable sitting at home and having everything delivered to their doors, so we kind of need to educate people that you still want to come to your music store to get your accessories. It’s fun to come to the music store and see new things, and touch and feel. People end up buying things they never even meant to leave with because they’ve always wanted to try an instrument.

And we actually have a lot more adults taking lessons than ever before because as they retire, they have an opportunity to do the things they always wanted to do. So that’s increased.

How would you describe Albuquerque’s music scene and culture?

Marcy Louton: It depends on what you’re talking about. We’re not in the rock scene. We’re not in audio or technology-based electronic instruments. We have a niche, and that’s band and orchestra, and predominantly band. We work very closely with all the band directors.

Dan Louton: We have teachers that actually play locally, though.

Marcy Louton: All of our teachers are pros and have degrees, and they play with many different groups. So we know about that scene. But as far as us having a major part in that, we don’t, because we’re known as the band store for the kids needing their instruments for back to school.

Do you have a favorite composer?

Marcy Louton: The Beatles. We grew up in the ’70s and ’80s. I grew up with classically trained parents, so I grew up with all the classics. My mom was also an organist. So I know all the bigs — Brahms, Beethoven. But mine would be The Beatles.

Any pet peeves?

Dan Louton: It’s a challenge sometimes to educate parents that online is not necessarily the only place to get your stuff, to get it at a fair price. That’s my pet peeve, when they walk in and say, “I just need a reed, and I got the rest of (my stuff) online.” It’s like, well, you can get it here for almost the same price. And that’s just education.

Marcy Louton: And that has just changed greatly since the pandemic. It used to be a little different.

Favorite instrument, besides your own?

Marcy Louton: I was thrilled when my one son wanted to be a drummer because I always thought that was super cool. And we had a rock band going in our house, the kids did, and our neighborhood rocked, and they loved him. I always loved the flute, and my sister played flute, and we had girls that played flute. I think probably flute would be mine.

Dan Louton: I have no musical talents. I spent two years taking guitar lessons and never got out of book one. You have to practice, as I tell the kids; you’ve got to put the time in. But I always thought I really liked saxophone.

Marcy Louton: Oh, you would’ve been a good sax player.

Dan Louton: Jazz would’ve been cool. But that does not mean we don’t like all the rest of them.

Megan Gleason is a business editor for the Albuquerque Journal. She also covers energy, utilities and government. You can reach her at mgleason@abqjournal.com.