Moore Music has served as Evansville’s premier music supply store since it was opened by Pat Moore in 1976. The original 1,000 square foot building in Newburgh served the store’s needs for nearly five years before the successful business outgrew its small operation. In 1981 Pat Moore bought out ABC Music and, shortly thereafter, he chose moved the store to a larger facility in Evansville’s downtown area. Moore Music originally specialized in guitars, bass guitars, and drums, though Pat saw a spike in keyboards sales while the business was located downtown.
Pat operated the business at its downtown location until 1982 when the decision was made to move the store to Evansville’s east side. Moore moved the store to Morgan Avenue, just down the road from where the building sits today. One move later in 1986 brought the store to its current location on Morgan Avenue. Pat continued to run the business and develop it into a staple of Evansville’s economy until 2005. The store was sold by Pat in 2005 but his passion for the business lingered and in 2009 he opted to buy back his cherished establishment. Pat revitalized the business upon his repurchase but ultimately chose to close the store in 2011.
Moore Music was then purchased in 2011 by Brett Mulzer. Brett purchased the building, not for the music store in the front, but for the undeveloped space in the rear of the building. His intention involved turning that unused space into a world-class recording studio. Upon the purchase of the store by Brett, an agreement was made between him and Pat allowing Pat to rent out the front of the store to downsize and continue his operation while Brett worked to complete his vision for the recording studio. In May of 2013, Pat decided he wanted some time to take his mind off of running the store and focus on relaxing and playing music himself. He approached Brett about purchasing the store outright, and another agreement was made making Brett sole owner of the property.
Brett had the plans for the recording studio designed, contracted and built with the final product being completed in April of 2012. The world class recording studio is clad in natural pine that has been acoustically tuned for optimal sound performance and features state of the art gear and software to facilitate any of the needs of a professional recording artist. As a final touch Brett opted to hire gold record producer Jimmy Dulin out of Nashville to manage the studio. The studio has grown as word of its quality and management has spread and Brett concedes most of the credit to Dulin, “Jimmy is a world-class producer with years of experience and a track record to prove it.â€
Brett does not focus all of his energy on his recording studio though, and yearns to continue the honorable business practices that Pat Moore used in the retail aspect of the business throughout the years of his ownership. Customers walking through Moore Music’s doors can expect to be treated fairly by a knowledgeable and experienced staff. Brett only hires those who are active in the local music scene. This allows for peace of mind for both Brett and the customer in that they are receiving the best, most knowledgeable service possible. Brett, himself, has also gone to extraordinary lengths to increase his knowledge base of the products he promotes and sells through his store. Much of this information is shared at employee meetings in which everyone has a voice and works together to build off of each others strengths to improve any of the employees’ weaknesses in terms of their knowledge. Employee and Gonzo’s Toybox guitarist Ed Sein enjoys this aspect of the business most, “The best part about my job here (Moore Music) is that I get to use the knowledge and experience that I have gained through years of being in this business to talk to our customers about concepts, gear, and any other questions they may have. This idea isn’t just limited to our customers. We have an excellent team here that really works hard to have the most well rounded knowledge base in Evansville when it comes to drums, guitars, keyboards, and the equipment that compliments those instruments. Where I am weak on my knowledge of drums, there is always someone here that can answer any questions that I or a customer may have. The same concept applies to any of us who’s weakness may be in our knowledge of guitars, keyboards, or any other aspect of the job. It takes a lot of time and effort to build a team as tightly knit as ours and I am proud to be a part of the Moore Music family.â€
Brett has taken it upon himself to tour many of the factories that manufacture the products he sells in his own store. Brett has paid visits to Mapex’s drum factory, Breedlove’s guitar factory and Paul Reed Smith’s factory.
