A Recession Proof Business is Music to the Ears

Ever heard of the ditty Happy Days are Here Again? “It was actually written while the country was experiencing hard times. Music is often a tonic for what ails us. “During the Great Depression piano sales actually soared in the U.S.,” said Jim Hayden, owner of Hayden Music at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County. What customers may not know as they walk into the store is that they are in the deft hands of a musician, entertainer and writer – as well as a charismatic salesperson and business manager. 

When asked how hard his business has been hit due to the current recession, he just smiles. Hayden’s 38 years in the music business has paid off. “People don’t have the money right now to travel, so they’re looking for something entertaining to do in the home. Maybe that’s why more adults take piano lessons now than ever before.” At the Tanglewood store family lessons are offered for eight weeks – free of charge – with the purchase of any keyboard instrument. The store also sells a variety of guitars, some band instruments and sheet music.

Hayden’s musician roots run deep: “I formed my own band called The Hayden Project, but as a young man I also had the opportunity to perform with Santana, Sly and the Family Stones, Joe Ritchie and “The Joint Venture,” recalled Hayden, whose love affair with music endures.  He still can’t wait to sit before the polished keyboard of a baby grand to strut his stuff, including a Christmas song he wrote that sounds like Currier & Ives in motion. The song depicts the lyrical sounds of a heartwarming holiday gathering.  Hayden’s life has been about connecting people with music.  For him it provides a kind of catharsis and comfort that almost nothing else can.

Hayden’s route to the business side of music has taken numerous twists and turns. Many years ago he was playing keyboard coast to coast, being booked by the William Morris Agency, when another kind synchronicity came into play. “I had just finished an album and was walking in a mall one day when Bob Pierce signaled me to come into a retail music store. He was the Bob Pierce who created the highly lauded Bob Pierce Piano Atlas, and he started teaching me the ropes of the instrument business,” said Hayden.

Before long Hayden was tapped to become the manager of that Sherman Clay Music store. Of course, selling instruments didn’t stop him from signing music contracts with New York/Hollywood based firms. “I wrote a tune called “With This Ring” that The Persuasions later recorded,” said Hayden, “but I also wrote some scores for movies.”

In the early 1970’s Hayden moved to Phoenix, Arizona to become an area manager of multiple music stores. In addition, he was a troubleshooter for stores in Boston and New York. By 1976 he was spending most of his time running six stores in New York City. He soon became the Eastern Regional U.S. Manager of the Hammond Organ Company.

He had a desire to return home however. “I’m from Harrisonburg, Virginia originally,” said Hayden, “so I wanted to come back to the area when my dad got cancer.”

On the journey back Hayden purchased a struggling Campbell’s Music store in D.C. Eventually, he bought eight stores in the D.C. area and became the largest piano dealer in Virginia – not bad for a guy who was 12 hours short of completing his college degree in business from James Madison.

His stores in Washington even had a presidential connection. “When Campbell’s in D.C. provided all the pianos for President Reagan’s inaugural balls, I kept track by recording the serial numbers,” Hayden said. “One was used by Wayne Newton and the others were played by a host of famous stars, so I made medallions for each piano to record the occasion and sold 35 grands the next afternoon.”

Smith Mountain Lake is home to Hayden these days because he says it’s one of the most paradisiacal places in the world – featuring water, forests and mountains. Hayden also plays in a band called “The Clue” at the lake, when he’s not jet skiing. He’s hoping to create some musical scores for a new film to be set there.

After living in places like Phoenix, New York and Washington, this area is more his speed now; “the Roanoke Valley is big enough to get lost in, but small enough to preserve one’s identity.”  Hayden has been, by his own estimation, a fairly private person, a man who believes that music is “the Technicolor of the World.” He has shared that vision with countless individuals.  “That’s what it’s really all about for me.”

By Mary Ellen Campagna

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