Memories of the retailer, the man, the father, the friend and a father figure to many

By Chuck Flores

As Bugs Henderson’s signature guitar cut through the din of Sons of Hermann Hall at a memorial jam for Larry Morgan on March 1, the assembled family members, musicians, former employees, music reps, lifelong friends, and even some of his retail competitors took a little time to remember the man who left a mark on them all.

Morgan died ..January 26, 2009.. after a long battle with emphysema. Decades of music sales, education, and mentoring are but parts of the legacy Larry Morgan, the music store mastermind, left behind. From humble beginnings in the early ’60s through the boom years of the ’70s to the corporate years that followed, Morgan remained a father figure to those who worked for him, bought equipment from him, and sought advice from him.

the beginnings

Charles Kitch went to work for Larry Morgan in the summer of 1964. “Larry had a small, one room store on the square in old downtown Garland called Larry Morgan’s Music Mart,” he recalled. “Larry sold blues and jazz records and some sheet music. A rack jobber came by once a month to pick up the old records and add the new stuff. The room was divided by a black curtain and I taught guitar lessons and sold Kay guitars in the back. These were humble beginnings. When Larry hired me to teach and sell, I told him I could probably sell, but didn’t know how to teach. “Larry said, ‘Just stay one lesson ahead of your students.’ I have used this strategy for decades. The move to 510 Garland Road to consolidate with Larry’s dad and Jim Arnold, who had a piano store in east Dallas, came quickly. Then the Beatles hit and all hell broke loose for us. It was all about cool guitars, loud amps, drums, keyboards and ‘discounts,’ which was something new to the trade.

“Freddy King, Ike Turner, Pete Townsend, and Willie Weeks were some of my early clients. Later clients included Rocky Athas, Jimmy Wallace, and Jimmie Lee Vaughan and Stevie Ray Vaughan. We enjoyed great success early on, and Larry was a great teacher and mentor. I left in 1973 to start my current company, Sound Productions. I continued to do business with Larry until he passed away. To this day I apply a lot of what I learned from Larry to my own ventures.”

the guitarists

Jimmy Wallace of the Dallas Guitar Show as well as Stratoblaster guitarist, worked for Arnold & Morgan during the day while he and his band Lynx were playing the clubs at night. He cites Larry as a “huge influence” and a lifelong friend. “My mother took me there in 1968 and bought me a black Les Paul custom from Charles Kitch, which I still have today,” said Wallace.

He added “The spirit of Arnold and Morgan was not just that of a normal music store. You didn’t go there to buy something; you went there to find the instrument that was going to inspire you to be the musician you wanted to be. That’s just how Larry and the whole place made you feel. Aside from his influence in my life as a musician, he taught me so much in business, how to serve people and not just be a clerk. He was the greatest networker. If you needed a musician for your band, you could be around Larry for an hour and have five numbers to call. He is responsible for so many peoples’ success in the music business.

“Gibson would not have produced a Les Paul model with my name on it if it weren’t for him,” according to Wallace. “If Larry referred you, you got the job. In the day, his buying power out of his single store was far greater than most national chains. He made many people a lot of money. Beyond all that he was a true friend and to many a father figure, always listening attentively to the circumstances of your life and giving you sincere, sound advice.”

As Dick Roth observed in his online obituary, “Loss of a Legend,” “Larry was a fixture in the world-wide music scene as well as a Dallas music icon. From the 1960s until just recently, all the best musicians knew that if they needed something, equipment, instruments, microphones, any kind of gear, Larry Morgan, in Texas, could get it for them, fast. If Paul McCartney needed a unique left-handed guitar, Larry Morgan would acquire it for him.

“On a tour, if Willie Nelson needed a special brand of guitar string, or Phil Collins broke a specific cymbal in his drum kit, or maybe Ronnie Milsap wanted a special keyboard and amp for his studio, they all knew that a phone call to Larry Morgan would have it there the next day you would never hear these stories from Larry Morgan’s mouth because Larry was a modest man. Larry was always more interested in what you were doing, and how he might help. In many ways Larry Morgan mentored some of the finest performers and studio musicians in the country,” according to Roth.

Bugs Henderson remembers when he first met Larry. “I was working at a music store in Longview, Texas, and we were the local Fender dealer. You have to understand that this was at a time when Fender was very choosy about who carried their line and the Dallas dealer was McCord Music. No discounts off retail — sometimes, but rarely, 10% for cash and that was it. Well we weren’t selling much Fender and Vox had just came out because of the Beatles thing and everybody was buying that even though at the time it was crap. So we cut a deal with Larry. I would drive a carload of Fender guitars and amps down to Garland and he would pay us an amount over our cost. Then he and his guys would remove the serial numbers so Fender couldn’t trace the source and he would sell them much cheaper than McCord. He finally got caught but he was moving so much Fender equipment they gave him the whole line and he became a legitimate Fender dealer.

“His store was always packed and noisy as hell ’cause it was full of cats playing and testing out stuff. It was a true “mom and pop” store, there were no megastores or chains, just Larry. When I moved to Dallas he offered me a great job but I would have had to give up playing full time and wanted to try that for a while. I don’t regret it but I would have loved working there — it was constant excitement.

“When I was working at ‘The Cellar’ in Dallas, I had an organ player named Dirty John — don’t ask. He was using the house equipment but wanted his own rig so we went to see Larry. John picked a Hammond organ and two Leslie cabinets and the total cost was several thousand dollars. Trouble was, he had terrible credit. So, not having been screwed enough yet in the business, I anted up and signed for the whole shebang. Well, naturally DJ skipped town with the rig, leaving me responsible for the entire amount. Larry never said a word to me about it. He never asked me to pay up and never reported the deal to any credit agencies. He did eventually locate everything much later but I never forgot what he did for me. In a way he was like a father to all of us musicians who were just trying to get by…we won’t see another Larry Morgan in the Dallas music scene; that time is gone.”

Rocky Athas, now playing for John Mayall, remembers needing a new PA. back in the old days of Arnold & Morgan Music. “Well, of course we couldn’t pay for it right away and none of us had credit. So Larry said, ‘How much do you have now?’ I told him. He said that he would give me credit and after just one payment I was able to take the PA with me and make payments when we had gigs.

“During that time we were playing all the time. So, I would bring him a small payment every Monday after our gigs. He would write down what we paid and then mark it off of our balance until we finally paid for the whole PA. Now this was a large PA and worth a lot of money. We had spent about $3,200 on the PA and it took a little over a year to pay for it. He gave us the last receipt and said we were all paid up. Then he said, ‘Do you need anything else? You guys were always making your payments and kept your word on the payments.’ He said he would do it again if we needed anything else. Now you tell me, would anybody in the music store business do that for you now? I don’t think so.”

Guitarist Tommy Hiett, who taught guitar at Larry Morgan’s store for many years is thankful for the experience of working for and knowing him. “Larry was a true old style business man, who loved and nurtured his employees, struck fear in the hearts of reps, and cut deals like there was no tomorrow…sometimes the greatest people we know are right in front of us.”

They gathered at the Larry Morgan Memorial Jam: Marcus Morgan, Bugs Henderson, Arron Morgan, Gaila Morgan.

the family man

“Growing up with Larry was like growing up with Wyatt Earp, you didn’t know where truth and legend crossed,” said Aaron Morgan, one of Larry’s sons. “For such a little guy my dad’s shoes are huge, I should know because I am the head of this family now…we all have our own story to tell about Larry, whether it is the time he threw Bob Tilton out of the Arnold & Morgan store for harassing the customers, or the time he let you take an amp to a gig because you couldn’t afford one and didn’t have one. Here is one of my many ‘Larry Stories.’ Aaron added, “In 1987 we had moved to Kansas City to open a store there called World Wide Music & Sound. A man came in one day carrying an old Fender Tweed case. Inside was a 1952 Butterscotch Tele with some mild checking, the polish cloth was still in the bag, the original grey cord was still bound with the original rubber band, there was a complete set of Bullets in the case and the strings had never been changed. It had sat in a closet since 1952. The man had bought the guitar for his son who played it once and never touched it again. He asked for what he paid for the guitar originally, $219, my dad gave him $1800. The next day he sold the guitar to Jimmy Wallace for $10,000, and Jimmy sold it to Vince Gill for $12,000. I get a kick out of this story and tell it every chance I get.”

Buddy remembers

“Arnold & Morgan music was one of our first advertisers,” recalls Buddy founder Stoney Burns. “I serviced the account myself, calling on Larry Morgan at the old store on Garland Road. It was called ‘The Supermarket of Sound,’ partially because the building was originally a grocery store. It even had some of the frozen food lockers still in use, holding cymbals as I recall.

“Larry was usually on the phone when I got there, so I’d wait in the outer office or in the hallway with the framed 8x10 glossies of his famous customers covering the wall from the ceiling almost to the floor. On the highest row were the oldest pictures, mostly people I couldn’t identify, and the newest were toward the bottom. But my favorite was in the second row, an early picture of Ike & Tina Turner, Ike in a tuxedo and Tina in a tight sequined gown. This was before she got her teeth fixed; she was probably around 19.

“In those days Buddy had a softball team, originally called the Buddy Bombers but renamed the Buddy Bullets so I could be ‘Number One with a Bullet.’ When we played Arnold & Morgan someone, probably (Buddy photographer) Jesus Carrillo, took a picture of me, Larry, and editor Rob Edleson in our uniforms in front of the backstop. It turned out to be a great picture of all of us and I wanted to run it in Blah Blah but we were standing too far apart for a one-column wide picture.

“This was way before Photoshop so the way to move us closer together was with scissors and rubber cement. It was relatively easy to do because we could cut along the chain link backstop and it wouldn’t be noticeable. Unfortunately, because of perspective, we had to raise the diminutive Larry so the chain links would match up. This made little Larry appear almost as tall as the six-footers on each side of him. “I dreaded delivering those magazines to him, fearing he would think we were making fun of him. But when he saw it a big grin broke out and he ran around the store showing his salesmen, ‘Look how tall I am.’ He really enjoyed being tall, even if it was only in a photo.”

©2009 Buddy Magazine/Chuck Flores

buddymag@suddenlink.net