History

When it first started in the early 70’s, Peoples Music was a record store.(remember records, those hard black plastic skinny frisbees?) The motto was..."come in, dig the sounds, or just rap..." Rap, in those days, meant just talking to someone. The store was filled with incense, lava lamps,coffee and lots and lots of records and tapes. Since that time the store has moved 3 times (in the same town) and changed the merchandise from records, then tapes and CD’s, to musical instruments. We still get calls from people who want to buy recorded music but we refer them to the CD store in town.

What town? We are in Sebastopol, California. About 50 or so miles north of San Francisco in beautiful Sonoma County. We specialize in acoustic instruments with a flair for the unusual, such as: a Kora (African harp), a Koto (Japanese harp), a Sitar, Harmoniums, a Berimbau, Shakuhachis, Ozark pickin’ bows, African Sistrums, Chun Mo’s from Thailand, Greek Baglama (a tiny bouzouki), a Chinese Pipa, Didgeridoos, Doumbeks, Djembes, Hemlock root flutes, Pentatonic Marimbas, Percussion tubes, as well as guitars, banjos (5 str., plectrum, and tenor), Dulcimers (hammered and lap), all sorts of band instruments for our rental program, Ukes, gobs of books (instructional and song) and lots of other things, as well as all the accessories you could think of. Get the idea?

Working musicians themselves, Bo Bryant has been the owner of the store for the past 20 years and Chris Carney, his ubiquitous side kick, has been around here almost as long. Together they’ve kept the store running through good times and bad with their staff of part-timers too numerous to mention. Peoples Music specializes in keeping our customers happy through selling quality instruments, expert repairs on all manor of stringed instruments and all the band instruments, plus a staff of teachers that would do any college proud.

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