Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 361: Inside LeGrand Music Studios: Teaching, Community, And Affordable Guitars

• Skip Mauney & Andy Legrand • Episode 361

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What if the difference between “I’m not musical” and “I can play” is the room you walk into? We sit down with Andy LeGrand, owner of LeGrand Music Studios in Knoxville, to unpack how a welcoming arts environment, professional coaching, and the right instruments help real people make real progress. From first-timers to working musicians, Andy shares how a studio built on encouragement and clarity turns hesitation into momentum.

We explore the studio’s community-driven model, housed inside the Fountain City Arts Center, where students learn amid paintings, conversation, and creative energy. Andy walks us through their pro instructor team and why they introduced an in-house line of acoustic guitars: classical options designed for beginners, a smaller-body model for young players, and the Flex hybrid that bridges nylon and steel string styles. By cutting out middlemen, they offer better playability at a friendlier price, helping students practice more because the instrument feels good under the fingers.

We also tackle the biggest myth he hears: that some people just can’t do music. Andy breaks down how progress blends the academic and the expressive, with early lessons focused on making the intangible feel concrete. He offers practical insight on pacing, patience, and the small wins that compound over time. You’ll also get details on their sound-treated lesson rooms, group spaces, online sessions for remote learners, and exact location in Fountain City Park inside the old library building.

If you’ve been waiting for the “right moment” to start or return to music, consider this your nudge. Stop by the studio, try a guitar, meet a coach, or head to legrandmusic.org to get matched with the right lesson. If this conversation inspired you, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs the push, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find the music waiting for them.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Marty.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of East Tennessee in Western North Carolina. So I am very excited today to have a special guest in the studio for the first time. And uh super excited to uh I'm a uh music freak and uh I'm sure I'm super excited to learn all about uh this business and what they do, and I'm sure you will be as well, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Andy Legrand, who is the owner-operator of Legrand Music Studios. Andy, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Skiff. It's good to be here. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, like I said, we're thrilled to have you. Uh I'm a I'm a somewhat of a guitar player, musician, so I'm super excited to learn everything that you guys do. So why don't you uh kick us off by telling us about Legrand Music Studios?

SPEAKER_02:

Sure, yeah. Uh uh Le Grand Music Studios has been operating in Knoxville uh for about 16 years. Uh we have an all-pro staff, all professional musicians, and we currently have 15 instructors. Uh we uh recently added our our own brand of instruments and accessories to help uh support the idea of getting affordable quality instruments into the hands of students and professionals. Uh Le Grand Music Studios is really more than just a music school for children and adults. Uh we focus on creating uh a community environment where students and musicians feel encouraged to explore and discover and develop their own musical interest, uh whether they're taking the first steps uh into music or whether they're uh returning to an old passion or or wanting to bump up, level up their skills as a professional to the professional level. Uh it's a really, really neat environment. Um we enjoy it. It's a very creative environment. Uh it's housed inside the Fountain City Arts Center, which is an art gallery and uh a place that teaches um um classes for art, painting, and drawing and things of that nature.

SPEAKER_00:

Very cool. Well, um you said you have your own your own brand of instruments. What kind of instruments are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, they're uh currently they're guitars, uh, they're all acoustic. Um I'm I'm a classical guitarist myself, so I'm I'm uh we've got some that were designed specifically for classical uh players, uh introductory level, and then we have some that's a hybrid in between the steel string and acoustic, so it's like an acoustic neck, but with not a lot of strings. We have one of those with a smaller body that are for younger students. Um they're called that's called the Flint Merrill One series, and that that one guitar is called the Flex, which is kind of a fun name for that one that's actually hybrid. And then we have your traditional steel string guitars, uh, the concert, the concert size, grand auditorium, jumbo. Um they're all very, very uh good quality instruments for the price. Um there we we purposefully uh bring these in uh ourselves uh because we want to cut out that middleman uh to make them a little more affordable for people around here. So um they're they're fun to play. We have a good time.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's one thing I found. Guitars don't get cheaper. Oh no, they only get more cheaper. They do not. They do not. Well, very cool. Uh Andy, how did you uh how did you get what's your journey? How'd you get started in this business?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I I've been I've looking back, I've been asked this question uh this previously, um, and I I think I started uh music when I was four years old. Uh I think I was singing in a church choir. And I, you know, I have I don't have to go through all those details, but eventually that led led into songwriting and um uh the study of the guitar as an instrument. And I performed a good bit when I was a teenager, uh, and um that performance led to lots of connections and and understanding uh the depth of music. Uh so as I walk through life, you know, I just I found a way to give it back. And that's kind of why why we do what we do. Um I I think all the musicians here at the studio are in a very similar place. Um it's a very, very s a similar thing to to just give back what was given to us. And uh it's it's fun. We have a we we enjoy that process. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Amen. Well, um in the music industry, uh which you do a lot, you sell instruments, you do lessons, training. Um what are some myths or misconceptions uh in your business?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, the I think the largest misconception that I've had uh doing this for 16 years here in Knoxville specifically, are there's a lot of people who think that they can't do music. And uh I I have to disagree with um that as a whole. Now, I've met one person who didn't want to put the time into it. Uh and because of that, it it it came into a place where you know it was kind of like, hey, you know, this might not be for you. But the truth is I I believe we're built for it. I think it's within us, and we just gotta kind of dust off um things to in order to reach in and understand how to connect with music and understand, you know, there's an academic element to it, but there's also the feel element, you know, and the creative and the expressive element. I think we're all I think we're all geared for that. So uh when people say I I don't have a musical bone in my body, I I tend to I tend to say that's not true. So that's it, but I think it's a misconception, and I think that most of the people that that I work with would would agree with me.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't agree more, and and you know, I'm a big fan of uh if I can learn how to play guitar, and and I'm you know, I've got lots of issues, but well we all do, but uh to me, you know, there's uh people learn in different ways, and I think if you can work around you know that particular person's needs, I think it's it yeah, it's easy to learn how to play. You just gotta work with them.

SPEAKER_02:

So once you get past the first, the first uh general, you know, idiosyncrecies of trying to understand where we're going. And you know, one of the one of the things I think that people in general have a hard time, you know, you're taking something that's not tangible and you're making it tangible by playing it and you know, or put it or writing it or whatever, it's it's kind of out there, and and that's a difficult thing for people to to understand. But once they start doing it, it's it rolls, you know. It starts making sense. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Very cool. Well, uh outside of work, uh, what do you like to do for fun, Andy?

SPEAKER_02:

So I I work a good bit. Um, I'm I'm uh I'm a seven-day a week person right now, but when I have some free time, I uh I enjoy hiking. Uh what that's one of my favorite things to do. I like to hit trails in the smokies and um and the state parks here in this in the east Tennessee. I enjoy them very much. Uh and I'd like to hang out with my kids. Uh, we have a good time.

SPEAKER_00:

Very cool. Hopefully they enjoy the outdoors as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they do. They do.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, they live in a great place for it because yes, they do. That's perfect. Absolutely. Well, if um if if Andy, if you could think of one thing that you'd like our listeners to remember about uh Legrand Music Studios, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02:

Where we're located. We we um it's amazing. We've been here 16 years, and we have people who walk in this building and go, I didn't even know this place existed. The building, not just the business, the building. You know, so so uh we're we are we do we teach lessons online as well through through um uh our residence sessions which are which are geared geared strictly online, but we also teach in person. We have uh eight studios that are geared, uh there's sound resistant studios are for private lessons. We have a big big area where we can do classes. Um we are located in the heart of Fountain City area of Knoxville, which is which is north Knoxville above 640. And um we're very close to the duck pond, and we're located inside the park, uh the Fountain City Park, uh, where in the in the old library building. And you can come in here um pretty much six days a week um and talk to somebody. You can view the art that's on the walls, you can play a guitar, you can learn an instrument, um, and uh that's just a good place to be. So I hope that people can come on down.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. Well, for those of our listeners and viewers that are like me that are, you know, uh intrigued and would love to come check you guys out, potentially, you know, set up some some lessons, um, or or look for a guitar, um, how can they learn more?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh, we have a website, it's it's legrandmusic.org. And there are links to there to everything we've talked about today. Lessons, they can actually uh there's a little form on there they can fill out, just ask for uh minimal personal information, which is your name and your email address, and someone will go back to them and talk to them about it if they don't find what they want online. And otherwise, um, we're we're out there on the web all over the place.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good. All right. Well, Andy, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being here and really enjoyed uh learning all about you. Gonna come check you guys out. Actually, would love to see some of your guitars too.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, awesome, Skip. That'd be great. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'll come check that out and appreciate you being here and uh wish you and your family and uh your your uh students all the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thank you very much, Skip. It was a pleasure, appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, and uh would love to love to have you back sometime.

unknown:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks, all right.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Try Dash Cities.com. That's GNP Try Dash Cities.com or call four two three seven one nine five eight seven three.