The Music & Sound Retailer: Who was your greatest influence or mentor and why?
Jim Cavanaugh: My grandfather, Vince Cavanaugh. He taught me everything I know about machinery.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What was the best advice you ever received?
Cavanaugh: “People buy from people.” That is from my wife, Susan Cavanaugh.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What was your first experience with a musical instrument?
Cavanaugh: I started out on the violin at a very young age. However, I was looking to progress to something larger.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What instrument do you most enjoying playing?
Cavanaugh: Upright bass to this day!
The Music & Sound Retailer: Tell us something about yourself that others do not know or would be surprised to learn.
Cavanaugh: Susan, I, and our kids are heavily involved in greyhound rescue and adoption.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What’s your favorite activity to do when you’re not at work?
Cavanaugh: Travel. As of this year, we will have traveled to all seven continents and visited 40 countries with our children.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
Cavanaugh: Hands down: Earth, Wind and Fire.
The Music & Sound Retailer: If you could see any musician, alive or deceased, play a concert for one night, who would it be and why?
Jim Cavanaugh: Original Beatles. An amazing cross section of music.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What musician are you hoping to see play in the near future?
Cavanaugh: Jimmy Buffett.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What song was most memorable for you throughout your childhood, and what do you remember about it the most?
Cavanaugh: John Denver. His music was always light, fun and easy to listen to.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What songs are on your smartphone/iPod, etc. right now?
Cavanaugh: Anything “Rat Pack”-style. Frank Sinatra, etc.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What’s the most fun thing you saw/did at a NAMM Show?
Cavanaugh: Ray Charles in concert.
The Music & Sound Retailer: If you had to select three people, past or present, to have dinner with, who would they be and what would you ask them?
Cavanaugh: Ben Franklin: What inspired your ideas? Steve Jobs: What was your thought process for new technologies? Richard Branson: What is your management style?
The Music & Sound Retailer: What is the best thing about the MI industry?
Cavanaugh: We all share the common goal of bringing music to as many people as possible.
The Music & Sound Retailer: Who do you admire most outside of the music industry?
Cavanaugh: Malcolm Gladwell.
The Music & Sound Retailer: If you weren’t in the music industry, what would you be doing and why?
Cavanaugh: I would be a pilot. Our family always has the travel bug.
The Music & Sound Retailer: Tell us about your hometown and why you enjoy living there.
Cavanaugh: Sarasota, Fla., is an abundance of culture and arts, almost all genres. Not to mention the weather too!
The Music & Sound Retailer: What are you most prized possession(s) and why?
Cavanaugh: Photo album collection. Nothing can replace the original look and feel of the photos or the memory of creating and arranging them. It is a simple joy.
The Music & Sound Retailer: What’s your favorite book and why?
Cavanaugh: “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. The message of working hard and reaping the reward is very inspiring.