When David Starr was in the hospital and things were looking bad, he found inspiration from an unlikely source. “My father and grandfather were there in a dream to tell me it wasn’t my time yet, even though I was kind of at death’s door,” says the singer/songwriter and owner of Cedaredge, CO music store, Starr’s Guitars.
As he recovered from an emergency surgery, that dream inspired Starr to write the bones of his song “Rise Up Again.” He sent his notes along to his pal John Oates who co-wrote the track and the two musicians made it the centerpiece of Starr’s 2020 record Beauty & Ruin, which Oates produced.
After recovering, when Starr returned to the stage and began performing “Rise Up Again” live, he noticed that audiences were reacting to the song’s anthemic message, which became somewhat of a mission statement for the musician. “I sort of feel like none of us have any time to waste. Hopefully this last year has brought that home to some people who took things for granted,” he says.
The idea “Rise Up Again” seems to be indicative of Starr’s longtime work ethic. As he balances his music career — which had been keeping Starr busy with for about 150 nights every year as he toured through the US and UK — with running Starr’s Guitars, he’s become well aware that he has no time to waste. When asked how he does it, he says, “I’ve just always had this ethic that if you get up early, you can get ahead of things a little bit. So, when I’m not on the road, I come down here to the store about 6:30, 7:00 in the morning.” He’s quick to point out that he couldn’t do it on his own, adding, “I have to say, I’ve always had good help.”
Initially founded in Little Rock, AR, Starr moved the store to the small town of Cedaredge in 2001. “What I’ve found is in a small town we don’t have a lot of professional players. It’s mostly hobbyists and people just starting out. When they come in, they look to me to give them advice about what a good value and what a good guitar is,” says Starr, who sees the Starr’s Guitars as a reflection of himself as a player and artist. “It’s a ‘your vibe attracts your tribe’ kind of thing. I’ve tried to make the store represent me as much as possible. So, it feels like it’s me and my help they’re coming to see as much as the guitars in the store.”
Starr and his wife have used their role in the local music scene as a platform to give back to the community. They helped create the Grand Mesa Arts Center in Cedaredge and the town offered its thanks by naming an official David Starr Day in 2016. “I try to do a lot for this community because my goal is to leave it better than I found it,” he says.
Last year, Starr saw an opportunity to reach people in a new way by designing his own custom guitar model that he could sell at Starr’s Guitars. He called up Breedlove to discuss details and the limited edition Rise Up Again model started to come together.
In order to decide the specs of the guitar, Starr says, “I began thinking about which of my vintage guitars I would want to emulate and blend with Breedlove’s contemporary take on guitar making.” He chose to outfit the Rise Up Again guitar’s concerto body style with a root beer burst finish on a sitka spruce top and a stunning flame maple back, adding touches like vintage-inspired aged binding and ebony tuning keys. But there was one final detail that needed to be put in place. Starr explains, “One day I’m talking to my wife and she said, ‘Why not put Rise Up Again as sort of an inspirational message on the fretboard?’ And I went, ‘Boom. That’s it.’”
Starr chose to produce a limited edition run of seven Rise Up Again guitars and they’re now available through Starr’s Guitars. Starr says his customers have taken notice: “There’s been a couple of people that have really connected with that story. I think timing is so important in life. Some of it’s just luck, and serendipity. I think to have that guitar happen at the end of the year when we all went through so much and we’re all trying to just crawl back from it, I feel like we’ve all got to keep an eye to the future.”
As for what the future holds for Starr, “I can’t wait to get back out in front of people so I can play it, and tell the story.” Keep an eye on David’s social media accounts as he announces new performance dates so you can see the Rise Up Again guitar for yourself, or stop into Starr’s Guitars if you’re ever in Cedaredge and try one out for yourself.
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