Elaine Garland Mitchell and her brother, Gene Garland, learned to appreciate music from their father—a longtime musician—when the family lived in New Orleans, she said.
Mitchell and Garland lived on the eighth block of Canal Street during the 1940s and 1950s, when Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald were big names in the industry. Their father served as namesake for the band Johnny Garland and the Louisiana Playboys.
“Music became a great part of our life,” Mitchell said. “We started singing and playing as little kids, not only in church.”
Mitchell and Garland now help others discover their passion for music in their Lake Houston-area store, Humble Music Center. The siblings own Humble Music Center along with Chet Garland and Rodney Robert.
Humble Music Center features new and used instruments, training manuals, instrument accessories and offers music lessons. The music store also has 11 instructors who teach an instrument at least once per week. Customers receive one free lesson at Humble Music Center when an instrument is purchased.
“We teach all year long with 30-minute private lessons once a week,” Mitchell said. “We also do the buddy system with two in a class—two friends, mother and father, brother and sister, cousins, two enemies, whatever. You make friends with music.”
The business also features the Gene Garland repair shop. Garland repairs a variety of instruments, such as horns, violins, cellos and guitars. He offers antique and vintage repair as well as restoration services for sentimental customers who want to hang instruments on the wall.
Humble Music Center has 11 instructors who can train students to play an instrument.[/caption]
“Performing musicians bring their instruments to him from all over,” Mitchell said. “He can always find a way to fix it up.”
Mitchell and Garland moved the music shop to Humble in the mid-1980s after more than a decade inside Loop 610. They opened their first music shop in Houston at the intersection of West 43rd Street and Ella Boulevard in 1973. Four years later, the store was damaged by a fire, and they moved to a shop at the intersection of Tidwell and Parker roads. Mitchell and Garland moved to their current location near Hwy. 59 and FM 1960 Business in 1984.
Humble Music Center
138 1st St., W., Humble 281-540-7444 www.facebook.com/humblemusiccenter Hours: Mon.-Thu 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Sundays.
