Fretmonkey Records boasts private karaoke sessions, unique guitar stylings, and a host of artists in Downtown Conway.
The local studio has been open for about a year and a half.
“Fretmonkey itself has been a business for about five years now, though. It’s not only been a recording studio,” Blake Goodwin, owner of Fretmonkey, said. “We started off as a record label and we’ve delved into many different things in the last few years.”
In the record label stage of the business, Fretmonkey specialized in a unique type of guitar player. They looked for those who incorporated percussion with their acoustic guitars.
The studio isn’t only for audio recording. Fretmonkey also specializes in video production, such as music videos, short films, the occasional commercial, and producing.
Fretmonkey recently began renting out the studio for private karaoke parties.
“You can rent the room for up to 10 people, and we have wireless headphones, multiple mics and we’ll have the karaoke screen going,” Goodwin said. “The cool thing about it is that, if the party is interested, we can record the entire session and do the video for you, so you can have something to take home.”
Goodwin’s interest in music began at a young age.
“I picked up a guitar at probably 12 or 13, and as I grew up, I took it very seriously,” said Goodwin. “But I didn’t pursue music as my career until I was about 25.”
At the beginning of his music career, Goodwin participated in several national and international guitar competitions to try and get his name out there and meet high-priority artists.
His career launched when he took first place in the international acoustic guitar championship.
“I started realizing what artists are needing, especially artists of our genre, called fingerstyle guitar,” Goodwin said. “We kind of sat down as a collective group and came together as an artist-ran label.”
Fretmonkey works with all artists — from world-renowned to local, from guitarists and singers to harpists.
The studio struggled with COVID-19 restrictions at first.
“It hit us really hard. We had to do a lot of out-of-pocket and figure out how to switch a lot of things to streaming, and figuring out how to connect with customers and artists online,” Goodwin said. “It worked and got us through. We connected with several businesses and did projects just to get by.”
Goodwin said the studio has been kept afloat by the amazing artists that have been with Fretmonkey since the beginning. The studio has seen more business over the past five to six months due to some of the pandemic restrictions lifting.
So far, the studio is doing well in Conway.
“I feel like Conway is a unique city. We’re in a good position because it’s a little bit of a quieter town, but it has everything we need,” Goodwin said.
Before the pandemic, Fretmonkey hosted open-mic nights for about two years at Kings Live Music. As more restrictions lift, they’d like to start open-mic nights again.
Every year, Fretmonkey hosts the Fingerstyle Collective Guitar Festival at Petit Jean Mountain in Morrilton, Arkansas, booking artists from local cities and even Russia, Germany and Columbia.
Fretmonkey Records Studio is located at 1004, Front St in Downtown Conway. To book a session visit their website at www.fretmonkeyrecords.com.