John and Darren Barry, owners of Conway Music in downtown, have been a father-son team for most of Darren’s life.
The two went into business together 10 years ago. At the time, Darren had been working three years at the store before he and his father bought it from the previous owner. John wanted to help his son get started in a family business.

“I wanted to get started in business — something for (his) future. He knew music — how to play and teach. He knew PA systems,” John said.

The business is a full-line musical instrument dealer offering repairs, lessons and some public address installation. Darren and three other instructors teach music lessons in piano, drums and guitar.
Being partners with his father came as naturally to Darren as playing the piano.

“I played music all my life,” he said. “My dad was a minister, so we traveled and played music.”
John said the family traveled 20 states playing gospel music for 30 years.

“Darren can play (several) different instruments — electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, piano, mandolin, banjo, drums, organ. He plays in two or three bands. He does a brother and sister acoustic set,” John said.
Darren’s sister, Sherry Smith, owns Conway Tuxedo and Bridal across the street from Conway Music. They toured as the Barry Family for 30 years from the time Darren was 12 and Sherry was 9, traveling in a 40-foot bus. The children were home-schooled most of the time, John said.

Asked about working with his son every day, John said, “It’s great. We worked together traveling and singing. Now we work together in the store. We’ve just been partners all his life. He’s a hard worker.”
Darren said some days he and his father joke about who is the owner of the store, shifting the responsibility onto one another.

“I’ve been working with him all these years, and it doesn’t feel different. If you need to take a day off, it’s nice to know your business is in good hands and you trust the other person.

“It’s a unique relationship. I don’t know how many sons are partners with their fathers without a power struggle,” he said.

The musical tendencies in the family are being passed down to the next generation as well. Darren’s 13-year-old nephew is a gifted musician who plays multiple instruments, and his 15-year-old daughter loves to sing.
“Our family is very musically inclined,” John said.

As for the store, “One cool thing about this business is it’s not the same every day,” Darren said. “We get a lot of everything — working musicians, intermediate, beginners, students as young as 4 and 5 to 74.”
He said he took on an older woman as a student who said her hands were hurting from arthritis and she thought playing guitar would be a good way to keep her hands busy.

“As diverse as music is, one thing that still surprises me is that, as many people there are in an area, someone has a guitar. Music is part of everyone’s life,” Darren said.

He said he enjoys seeing people return to their childhood love of music after settling down and having children. It has also been rewarding over the years to see students go from learning to play to being in a band, he said.
The owners say being downtown is a plus.

“When we bought this store, downtown was dying,” John said.

“It wasn’t quite as vibrant,” Darren said. “We’ve seen businesses come and go.”

John added, “We enjoy being downtown in the heartbeat of the town. In 10 years, you meet a lot of people.”