By Brynna Breen
“Action Sound Guitar Shop Hawkins Texas”
That’s what you search on the internet browser. The storefront comes up on the map. Set between what used to be an antique store and an old beauty shop, Action Sound looks like a hometown store that’s been there, unassuming, for a dependably long time.
Well, it actually has—long enough to be something that everyone knows well and depends on, anyway. But this hidden gem—as musicians from Wood County, Texas and far beyond know—holds a lot of surprises.
The Best Around
For starters, Action Sound is widely acclaimed as one of the best music stores in East Texas and beyond! “(It’s) my favorite shop,” agreed Casey Boyd, a professional musician from Tyler.
Sometimes little things signify bigger things, and the Google star rating for this locally owned shop is one of them. With a current 4.9/5 rating, Action Sound far surpasses the average for music shops, many of which hover at a middle-to-low 4/5.
“(Action Sound is) the best shop that I have ever bought from. Brilliant with repairs and top notch for equipment,” said professional musician Gary Swinard, who has traveled the world over and seen many a music shop.
“I’ve been a customer, bought and sold musical equipment, had guitars, PA speakers, and amps repaired,” said Marcus Casburn, yet another well-known and well-traveled professional musician from Wood County. “Kelly is known for his guitar repair quality from here to Nashville and beyond.”
That’s no exaggeration. Owner Kelly Barber says that, at his shop, they “repair the ‘best (music stores’) in Nashville’s’’ stuff. Oh, and guess what? This “super-shop” does sentimental stuff, too.
“13 years ago, they repaired the headstock on my great-grandfather’s acoustic Airline after my daughter had knocked it over while learning how to walk,” wrote Google reviewer David Brown, a local Google Guide. “It was a cheaply made Montgomery Ward item back in 1969, and the years hadn’t been kind to ol’ Alice, but it’s the last thing I have of Grandad Joe’s. It meant the world that they took care of it like they did.”
“Kelly is one of the best people you could meet,” said Boyd. “He let me rent a 4×12 amp and cabinet for my first gig at (age) 15 for free. I will always appreciate the store.”
Guitars are hung by the hundreds on just about every conceivable surface in Wood County’s Action Sound guitar shop. There are guitars on the work tables, guitars on every inch of the walls, guitars lining the walkways of the floor, and guitars up near the rafters! “To players, it’s a treasure hunt,” said Kelly.
All statistics and reviews aside, Action Sound is one of those things that can’t really be overstated—and can’t really be accurately described—without seeing it in person. Everyone, it seems, loves this place.
“This (interviews) happens to us all the time,” smiled Kelly. “We’ve been in all these magazines, we’ve been here, we’ve been on this, we’ve been on (that)!”
Good quality, honest work, Southern goodwill, and a sort of “handshake mentality” seem to be the Action Sound guitar shop business model. At Kelly’s shop, customers are treated with seamless ease, like they’re an old friend. In fact, that’s the goal, Kelly said: To make each person walk out a friend. It’s not hard to like someone like him, who seems to know everyone anyway. Just treat them well and fairly—as Kelly so effortlessly seems to do—and be as helpful as you can.
“When (my customers) come in here, they become our friends,” he said. “So it’s like a family ordeal when you come in!”
More Than Meets the Eye
Not only does Action Sound have a cozy atmosphere, but, of course, they’re known for their spectacular quality of work and knowledge.
Wood County’s Action Sound guitar shop offers careful repair of damaged instruments, the purchase of new instruments, lessons, installations, custom guitar work, and more. They also have an “awe inspiring collection of classic guitars and amplifiers,” according to one Google reviewer.
“People don’t get to see this kind of stuff unless you go to a vintage guitar show,” said Kelly. He’s not exaggerating: In fact, one of the pieces on Action Sound’s website is, in itself, a fascinating story of acquisition and famous owners.
“This is a real deal 1961 Fender Telecaster Custom full of mojo,” says the listing on the Action Sound Action Sound website. “I purchased this from a lady who said her dad owned it, and he played for Wanda Jackson back in the day.”
Of course, the shop doesn’t just have relics on the wall (although there are, Kelly estimates, more than a thousand guitars in his place, several of them owned or played by very famous musicians). They have tons and tons of instruments for sale.
They’ve got guitars, amps, drums, headphones, horns, keyboards, lighting, recording equipment, synthesizers, trumpets, tuners, and literally more than a thousand other items—parts, accessories, and just about anything else you can think of. They’ve even got banjos!
The Past and the Future
It’s funny how life works out sometimes. The smallest thing often gets used to influence the biggest things; and that’s definitely the case with Kelly’s story.
Kelly grew up in the Wood County area and was 13 years old when he decided that he desperately wanted a drum kit. He finally found one for sale at a good price. Kelly’s dad told him he could have the kit, but only if he got a job to pay for it himself.
“Well, that ruined me right there, because I went and got a job,” interjected Kelly with a smile. “That was the beginning of my working, and I’ve been a workaholic ever since!”
Despite being just 13 years old (circa 1969), Kelly did, in fact, go out and get a job, working at a local grocery store in Hawkins until he could afford the drum kit, which he then bought with his nine months of earnings. So Kelly had had a dream, figured out how to make it happen, and pursued it relentlessly—a story that happened again and again in his life.
Kelly eventually went on to work for several years in the oil industry. In a word, he said, he “knew the oil field up one side and down another.” However, it just wasn’t what he wanted to do. Despite long hours and a physically/emotionally demanding job, he still found time to “play music, love music.”
“I was a square peg in a round hole,” he said, referring to his time in that career. “I’m in the oil field, and I’m playing in a rock band, and I just don’t fit the mold. I just (looked different), I wasn’t one of them.”
God often turns lives on the smallest of things, as Kelly notes, and such was definitely the case in Kelly’s life. The idea for his music store happened when Kelly’s band member broke a tremolo bar before a gig. Kelly went to go get it replaced, but the clerk at the store told him it would be $15: Six times the price that Kelly said it was usually sold at, and also all the money Kelly had with him at the time.
“I said, ‘Man, you’ve got to be making a mistake. How can this possibly be $15?’” Kelly said. “And the clerk replied, ‘It’s $15 – plus tax. Take it or leave it.’ And I said, ‘I’m leaving it…’ And I walked out the door, and I go straight down, and I get a (business name) at the courthouse. And I said, ‘I’m going into business!’”
Most folks would say such a thing in a mood of irritation and, of course, not follow through. Not Kelly Barber! Kelly turned around and did open that store some short time later. Eventually, and ironically, Kelly would come back to Hawkins and purchase the now-abandoned site of the old grocery store—his first job—to host his music store.
Today, Kelly says that business is booming. “I came over here (to Hawkins), and I never looked back. It just exploded. I didn’t expect (it to get so big),” said Kelly.
The business is so big, in fact, that he is opening up two more parts to his store—one on each side. Kelly also mentioned that he’s had several producers approach him about doing a movie about his store—not a documentary, but a full-blown movie!
There’s a lot more to Kelly’s story than can just be learned from a quick interview-turned-fascinating-chat. “I could sit here for months telling you stories about people we’ve met and people who have come in here, and celebrities,” Kelly said. “I haven’t even started (on my story).”
Over the course of his career, and now of his music store, Kelly Barber has met tons of celebrities, played with amazing bands, and acquired several truly historic pieces—and I do mean legendary artifacts. But to hear more of his story, all you have to do is just pop in and say hi. It’s worth your time, and you’ll walk out as a new friend.