HB Woodsongs changes ownership after 55 years in Boulder

HB Woodsongs has been part of Boulder’s music community for 55 years, selling and renting instruments, teaching lessons and repairing band and orchestra instruments. Now, as the longtime business celebrates its anniversary, it is marking another major milestone: a change in ownership.

“Woodsongs is so intertwined in my life,” said Sondra Blanchard who has owned Woodsongs since 2017 with her late husband, Shawn Cupolo. Since Sept. 21, Kevin Drost has taken over as owner of the shop on 3101 28th St.

The business traces its roots to 1971, when Ned and Laurel Alterman founded Folk Arts Music and Leather Supply. It changed names, owners and locations over the decades before becoming HB Woodsongs. Blanchard and Cupolo bought the business from longtime owner Dana Flitcraft.

Blanchard first stumbled upon the store in 2005 while working her postering service route, which brought her into Woodsongs weekly. She met Cupolo there while he was working at the store and she was pursuing a master’s degree in theater at Naropa University. Cupolo spent 14 years working at Woodsongs before the couple bought the business together.

Cupulo died unexpectedly in 2021, leaving Blanchard a single parent and sole owner of HB Woodsongs. Along with grieving her husband, Blanchard suddenly had to learn the parts of running Woodsongs that Cupolo had always handled.

“He was such a gentle soul,” Blanchard said. “He was so knowledgeable, and he gigged out a lot, so he knew everybody. I think that a lot of people who met him for the first time considered him a friend.”

That meant figuring out everything from internet problems to business passwords while keeping the shop running. The first day Blanchard returned to the store as the sole owner, she tripped the security alarm and didn’t know how to turn it off. 

“I just sat there in the store with the alarm going, thinking, ‘Oh, what misery,'” Blanchard said. 

After almost 10 years of ownership, Blanchard decided it was time to sell the business.

“I never intended to be the sole owner,” Blanchard said. “I’m just ready to have a different project that involves a lot of rest.”

A longtime customer takes over

HB Woodsongs’ new owner actually got his start as a musician and customer. Drost studied jazz guitar at the University of Denver over 20 years ago and spent his college years visiting music stores across Louisville, Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder. During his undergrad years, Drost would visit Woodsongs frequently. 

“I would regularly make trips up to Boulder and come check out the store just to see what they have,” Drost said. “It just had a vibe to it that appealed to me, and I loved coming in, seeing what was there and talking to people.”

For Blanchard, Drost’s longtime connection to music — and to Woodsongs itself — made him a natural fit. 

“I’m the type of person that, whether I own a guitar store or not, I would love nothing better than talking to somebody for an hour about guitars and music,” Drost said. 

Before purchasing the store, Drost worked at Reverb, an online marketplace for new and used musical instruments. He said the experience showed him how independent stores can use e-commerce to reach customers beyond their immediate neighborhoods. He is now considering how some of those practices could translate to Woodsongs.

“Can we continue to apply some of those modern tech practices and e-commerce practices so that the store can live outside of purely Boulder?” Drost said.

Keeping the neighborhood music store

Nonetheless, maintaining physical music stores is something Drost thinks is a vital part of the music community. Being greeted as you enter the store, talking with an experienced musician and bonding over shared experiences are all factors that make physical stores thrive at over online marketplaces. 

“It’s a passion; playing an instrument,” Drost said. “Having a place where you have a shared community with people … and connecting through that is really difficult through an Amazon shopping cart. Having that experience for people is something only a physical store can do.”

Drost plans to expand Woodsongs’ online presence while also building up its selection of vintage instruments and growing its rental and lesson programs. Currently, about 1,500 students and families use Woodsongs’ rental program each year. 

“Woodsongs’ rental program is a big part of the business because it gets instruments in the hands of kids and creates future musicians,” Drost said.

Current employee Julia Jaxsun has worked at Woodsongs for over a year and a half as a sales associate, marketing director and lessons manager. 

“Such an incredible honor to work in a place that is so community-centered and so full of music and joy,” Jaxsun said. “There is very much this magic to music, and to be able to share that with others is a true joy.”

Jaxsun taught music lessons and was the lessons manager at Guitar Center in Denver for four years prior to moving to Boulder and joining the Woodsongs’ team. She is still getting to know Drost, but his first impressions have impressed. 

“He’s been such a great builder of new things, and really on point with accomplishing tasks,” Jaxsun said. “He’s got a kindness about him that makes him very productive and also a great team member.”

The future of HB Woodsongs

As for Blanchard, she is excited about Drost’s plans and believes he can get it done.

“I know where the business can grow, and Kevin knows how to make that happen,” Blanchard said. 

The past two weeks, Blanchard has worked more than she was expecting to while helping with the transition process. Soon, she plans to fully step away, but Woodsongs will always be in her heart. 

“At the end of the day, I want Woodsongs to thrive and to be around the community for another 50 years,” Blanchard said. 

Drost says his goal is to preserve the feeling that kept bringing him back to Woodsongs long before he ever imagined owning it.

“Making a store like this successful is having that customer experience,” Drost said. “When somebody comes in, make sure they feel like they were heard and they felt welcome, whether they buy an instrument or not.”