Leland grad returns to ply trade.

JONAH POWELL said he’s content as long as their is a guitar to play,
or one to repair.

Jonah Powell majored in vocal music at Alma College, but his hands led him in a different direction.

“I wanted to do something with my hands,” said Powell. While working on a master’s degree in vocal performance at Ohio University, he met a man named Dan Erlewine who explained how combine a love for music with wood working skills.

Erlewine is “top of the game” for guitar repair. Powell served a 21⁄2 year internship at his shop in Athens, Ohio.

“It was just sort of an experience that showed up one day,” said Powell, a graduate of Leland High School. Erlewine took a liking to his new student, and taught him much of what Powell now uses in his own business.

Following his internship with Erlewine, Powell returned to Leelanau County to begin a business repairing and building guitars.

“I didn’t want to live in the big city,” he said. “I realized with my career path, I’d be touring 10 years with an opera company. I realized I didn’t want to be an academia.”

He has opened up a guitar repair shop in the second floor of a building that also houses his uncle’s cabinet shop, where a helping hand is always nearby.

“Working with wood, there’s nothing that’s exactly the same,” Powell said, “Every problem applies differently.”

A knowledgeable team that also works with wood can let him known what glue to use with different woods and provide other resources.

“I know who to go ask,” said Powell.

Powell wanted to contribute to Leelanau upon his return.

“I wanted to bring some rewarding, hands on trait back to the area. Something that wasn’t already done by my family and friends,” he said. “And guitar-fixing keeps me in the musical circle.”

It’s a circle that Powell doesn’t mind being in.

Though he’s now working to get his business up and running, Powell is a talented musician who has played the guitar most of his life, having picked it up at the age of seven.

“My dad plays the guitar,” said Powell. ‘I’ve had one guitar lesson in my life. I mostly picked it up from my environment,” he said.

“A lot of it was monkey see, monkey do.”

Powell also plays the violin, another instrument he picked up years ago.

"I played classical violin for 14 years,” said Powell. Now he plays gigs with local musicians like Dane Hyde. He mostly plays the fiddle at these gigs, though he always keeps a guitar nearby.

Powell also has some new guitars “in process.”

He’d like to have more business and someday own his own building, he’s content now as long as there is a guitar to fix.

“They (guitars) keep coming in,” he said.

Another advantage: Setting your own schedule.

“I structure my own time. I’m not on the clock,” said Powell. “Sometimes, when you’re doing something creative, you get frustrated. I can just go do something different. There’s a lot of unbilled time when you’re doing this kind of work.”

Like many who want to make a living in the field of music, Powell holds a second job at Black Star Farms.

While he’s not making millions of dollars, he’s content with his professional direction.

“I had to find something I loved, first and foremost. It does seem to be going well,” said Powell.

Then he added: “I guess I’m fortunate I don’t have a lot of health issues that force me to make lots of money.”