Extracted from The Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Rooted in music since 1949

Family-owned business edges close to 60 years of selling instruments

By Lee Anderson

McCarty Music has been a staple in Wichita Falls for almost six decades, and it has remained family-owned since the day Tom McCarty and wife Gerda opened Tom McCarty Music in 1949 on Monroe Street.

Since 1978, McCarty Music has been located at the corner of Cunningham and Kemp Boulevard, owned and operated by Joan McCarty Souther and her husband, Charlie, who is now retired.

``I think the reason I love it is because it is a part of my life,'' Joan said. ``It is all I have ever known. I feel like I am still a part of my parents.''

Speaking of the history of the business, Souther said her father moved it to 709 10th St., in the mid-1950s, where it remained until he retired in 1978.

The Southers first got into the music business when they acquired the Guitar Center on Call Field Road from McCarty's sisters in 1973 and changed the name to McCarty Music when McCarty retired and closed the downtown location. That's when the Southers moved the store to its present location. For several years, they also owned South Austin Music in Austin.

Talking about her parents, Souther said retirement couldn't keep the couple away from the store.

``They were both always in the store,'' she said. ``Mama was here every day. She loved the store.''

Her father passed away in 1980 and her mother died in 2002 at the age of 87.

``Daddy died in a music store in Irving, Texas,'' Souther said. ``He was carrying three violins into the store when he died.''

McCarty was born in Megargel, Texas, where he formed the first marching band in Texas, his daughter pointed out. Later on, he was a teacher, tennis coach and band director at Wichita Falls High School. He retired from the school system here in 1949. Many also will remember that McCarty wrote the WFHS school song, ``Hail to Our Colors.''

``Daddy had a great love for his students,'' Souther said. ``He taught math, was the tennis coach, and he helped coach football.''

According to a retirement article in the Times Record News, McCarty was the city men's tennis champion for 12 years (1927-1939). He also won several tennis titles around the area, including the West Texas Tennis Championship and the Dallas/Tarrant County Tournament. In 1956, McCarty was named one of North Texas' 12 greatest athletes.

The story also said "most old-timers say McCarty was a world-class player who could have beaten the best players, but his first love, music, kept him too busy to think of such aspirations."

Souther's mother was born in the Bowman community in Archer County. The music store is filled with guitars, amplifiers, drums, ``percussions and all the accessories.'' It also has sound systems and lighting systems.

``We used to sell vintage guitars,'' she explained. ``We still set up sound systems for concerts on a small scale.''

In addition to Souther, the store has four employees, including John Curlin, who has been with them some 25 years. The business has four guitar teachers who stay extremely busy giving lessons, she said.

Souther was born and raised in Wichita Falls. She is a 1965 graduate of Wichita Falls High School and attended Midwestern State University.

The Southers have one son, John McCarty Souther, who was the 2003 valedictorian at WFHS. He recently graduated from Harvard. He is a business analyst for Sears Holdings Corp. in Chicago.

Souther's sister, Jean McCarty Hoard, taught in the Wichita Falls school system for almost 40 years before retiring about two years ago.

McCarty Music is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Store hours Saturday are 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The telephone number for McCarty Music is (940) 692-3904.