John Kiefer couldn't find the blues and jazz records he was looking for in Lawrence, Kansas in 1959. A few years out of the service, and a few credit hours short of a Bachelor's at the University of Kansas, John parlayed his frustration into a new business called Kief's Records. Initially, he didn't have much of a business plan beyond the assumption that there must be others like him who were looking for Muddy Waters records. They would be his customers. It wasn't easy going at first, but he persevered, and eventually thrived, becoming one of America's greatest and most influential record shops.