Back to issue home page

Few people outside the world of trumpet professionals would know that along a stretch of no-man’s-land on Highway 30W in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains there resides one of the most recognized trumpet makers in the world, Cliff Blackburn. In fact, it’s difficult to find anyone in the Decatur-area business community who is even aware that Blackburn operates a globally significant business near the Meigs-McMinn County line.

Charles Decker, professor of trumpet at Tennessee Technological University, is not one of those people.

“Cliff is one of the best in the business at making trumpets of the highest quality,” Decker says. “He is totally dedicated to matching the right equipment with each individual regardless of a person’s status as a musician.”

With regards to musical status, though, no one could blame Blackburn if he chose to indulge in a little name-dropping. Owners of Blackburn trumpets include Doc Severinson, the Grammy Award-winning music director of The Tonight Show; Orbert Davis, one of jazz music’s most innovative and sought after artists; and the Swedish Royal Orchestra. Blackburn boasts dealers in Budapest, New Zealand, Australia and Norway.

Blackburn says his passion for building trumpets emerged when he took an instrument repair course “to fill the schedule” during graduate school at the University of Louisville. Upon graduation in 1972, Blackburn played for the Louisville Orchestra while he and his wife, Bunny, started a part-time operation repairing instruments. In 1987, the Blackburns moved back to their home state of Tennessee and began making trumpets full-time.

Today, Bunny, Cliff and Tina Erickson, another trumpet maker as well as a professional player, run Blackburn Trumpets. The trio produces a mere 30 trumpets a year, and has a 10-month waiting list. But a recent partnership Blackburn forged is sure to put more of his product on the market, if only in pieces. In concert with Sonare Winds, a division of a 78-year old Powell company, Blackburn’s famous “Louisville” leadpipes are now being fitted on German-made trumpets. This hybrid allows trumpeters who can’t afford the full price of a handcrafted Blackburn (a $4,000 to $5,000 item) to at least own a part of one.

The Blackburns are currently in the process of making an even larger business decision—finding the right person “with the same dedication to skill and quality” to carry on the Blackburn brand. Until a successor is found, the Blackburns will remain hard at work cranking out a few trumpets at a time from the small wooden workshop on Highway 30W, an out-of-the-way destination often sought out by top trumpet players from around the world.

Back to issue home page

Email to a Friend Print-Friendly Format