Scott Lange helps customers at Drummer’s Journey.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Five years ago, lifelong blues musician Michael Carbone set out to fulfill a percussionist’s dream: a sort of wonderland for drummers, where they could find everything from snares and sticks to congas, bongos, electronic gear and even education in one spot.
Today the rhythmic world of the Upper Midwest centers on Carbone’s dream come true. Drummer’s Journey, his drum emporium in the EasTen Shopping Center, attracts the musicians who lay down the beat. “There was nowhere to buy drums anywhere in the region when we got started,” Michael reflects. “Now, we carry the largest selection of drums for at least 200 or 300 miles in every direction. We’ve sold drums to customers from every state except Alaska and Hawaii.
“One of our first went to Mexico City for Michael Rivera, the drummer and lead singer of Rare Earth. A Canadian drummer is coming down to pick up her set next week. We field inquiries from all over place – England, Israel, Brazil, Germany, France. We’ve even shipped to a drum store in Kyiv.
“We get a lot of business from the musicians’ grapevine. Word of mouth is our best advertising,” he adds. “We’ve tried like crazy to get the word out. Yet every single week, someone still comes in, looks around and tells us, ‘Wow! I had no idea there was a place like this around here.’”
That wonder seems justified. The showroom of Drummer’s Journey is filled from wall to wall with drum sets, from utilitarian standards to the kind of gear that dedicated drummers drool over. That starts with the flashy drum sets just inside the door, fabricated in brilliant colors and flashy patterns. Michael jokes, “What it mostly takes to be a drummer is an attraction to shiny objects.”
But that’s just the eye candy. The store carries everything from utilitarian gear to some of the most elite professional instruments. When Slingerland, the century-old American drum manufacturer favored by jazz greats Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, was revived several years ago, Michael’s Moorhead store was chosen as one of only 50 retailers worldwide to handle its ultra-high-end snares. DW Drums selected the store to represent its state-of-the-art electronic drums, Michael adds: “They’re the best in the world.”
The standard kinds of drums and cymbals that most imagine are just one part of the “journey” referenced in the name. Carbone’s shop carries many, many varieties favored by worldwide cultures. That includes hand drums like congas, bongos, cajons (Latin box drums), darbakas (Middle Eastern drums), djembes handmade in Senegal, and log drums constructed locally. Electronic rhythm equipment is also available – both tablet-style and physical drums wired with electronics.
Three-quarters of Drummer’s Journey sales, Michael says, come out of its local showroom. That’s just one of what he calls the three legs of the business. His company is active on the website Reverb.com, especially in handling vintage and used equipment. E-commerce – sales via the internet – is the third avenue.
“We got into online sales a lot earlier than I’d intended,” he reflects. “We opened at the end of 2019, just two or three months before the COVID pandemic closed our doors. Online was a necessity.” While that route was a bumpy one and still represents a fraction of his volume, he predicts that it holds the greatest potential.
Michael credits his team with helping to make Drummer’s Journey a hub of the music community. Scott Lange, drummer with October Road, and Trevor Pearson of the Pat Linnertz Band handle sales. Matt Tinjum offers lessons; he plays with the Dan Brekke Band and Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome and collaborates with Steve Stein in Shredzilla. Alec Garcia of Slamabama will also be teaching.
Michael’s son Rylan plays a part, too. “He builds our custom drums,” his father notes. “He’s not a drummer – plays guitar.”
Two more instructors are coming aboard soon. Dakota Kate Henne plans to offer harmonica lessons, while Nic Bordwell will be teaching ukelele. Harmonicas? Ukeleles? Michael says,“We sell them, too, as a sideline.”
Michael himself is one of the region’s best-known musicians. Now semi-retired from his career in social services, his drumming is still going strong. “Drummers have a saying,” he reports. “We don’t quit playing when we get old. We get old when we quit playing.
“I’ve been playing for close to 60 years,” he goes on. “I got my first steady professional gig when I was 15 with Verle McDaniels’ Standby Blues Band, playing 120 nights a year. My parents said I could take the job as long as my grades didn’t go down. I was a straight-A student.” He laughs. “It was quite a thing. I had a lot more energy at 15 than I do at 67.”
He’s been drumming ever since. Following the Warped Melon Blues Band, popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, he helped found the Blue Wailers, a six-piece group known for its devotion to the blues. “We’re predominantly into Chicago-style blues, with some British and pre-war influence,” Michael reports. “We’re serious students of the blues in the traditional vein.”
He has been involved in the Fargo Blues Fest ever since its inception 30 years ago. “I’ve played more at the Blues Fest than anyone else on the planet,” he asserts, “with three different bands – Warped Melon, the Wailers and Shawn Holt and the Teardrops.” Holt, based in Nebraska, is the son of the legendary blues man Magic Slim. The 2025 festival is on the calendar at Newman Outdoor Field Aug. 1 and 2.
While Drummer’s Journey is all about the music, the enterprise also represents Michael’s lifelong dedication to what he calls “virtuous capitalism.” “We source our products carefully, making sure they are made using sustainable woods, for example, with sound business practices. No slave labor,” he says. He continues to do consulting with other businesses on capacity building, advocacy and grant-writing. The former CEO of Beyond Shelter continues as a member of the board of directors of Moorhead Public Housing.
After five eventful years, Michael says Drummer’s Journey is just about where he envisioned it would be. “We’re trying to to capture more of the market. It’s a big investment, especially at this time,” he confides. “I feel like we’re still just learning.”
This drummer’s journey, he muses, has been a big adventure: “It’s been a lot of work, maybe more than I expected. But, then, what isn’t?”
For more information on Drummer’s Journey products, go to www.drummersjourney.com, or search its page on Facebook.