Ralph Sordyl believed in music! Having started a music repair business in his living room while teaching music, Ralph grew the company, Sordyl’s House of Music, to one of the best known i...
Jane Stanton worked for the war effort during World War II, which was before she met Ken Stanton, who was a band director, wishing to open a music store. Jane played a vital role in the s...
Leslie Stirm is the owner of the Instrumental Music Center in Tucson, Arizona. Joining the store in 2001, Leslie has helped develop the store’s team, which has a strong focus on customer ...
Dan Strait moved his family to Austin, TX,from Houston to open a Baldwin piano franchise back in 1963. The company was called Strait Piano and Organ and Dan’s motto was “Where customers b...
Clint Strait was born in Austin, TX and is the 3rd generation to work for the Strait Music Company. Clint is carrying on his family’s tradition of great customer service and selection to ...
David Strait is one of two sons of original Strait Music Company owner and founder, Dan Strait. During his interview David talked about growing up working with their father in a true fami...
Robert Strait is proud of the music retail traditions that his father developed when their family owned store was first established back in 1967. Since that time, his father, Dan, along w...
John Tarpley likes to echo the message his great-grandmother lived by when she established the family business over 100 years ago: the customer is most important. Since taking over the bu...
David Tarpley remembered crawling around in the ceiling of his current church as a child, hauling the wires for the Allen Organ his father and uncle were installing. As a member of the Ta...
Bill Tarpley remembered the stories his father used to tell him about the early days of the family music retail store in west Texas. Times were hard during the era of the dust bowls and d...
Buzz Tarpley grew up in the music business. His grandmother was selling pianos as early as 1917 in West Texas. The Tarpley family officially opened a music store in 1927 in Pampa, Texas. ...
Don Teach is the owner of Shreveport Music store, which was once run by his father. While his father guided the store it was mainly a Hammond dealer and became one of the first to offer Y...
David Teeple’s first job in the music industry was working for the large Grinnell Brothers chain in the 1960s, based in Michigan. When he was asked to teach guitar, he had to first learn ...
Fred Theriault recalls the first time he set foot in Long & McQuade’s Music Store. He was still a teen and bought a snare drum from Jack McQuade; ironically Fred later was hired and h...
John Thomas was the lead piano repair man for Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. The historic music retailer, which opened for business before the Civil War and closed in 2003, had sever...
Jerry Trestman grew up in a musical home, in fact his older brother played saxophone for several of the big bands during the swing era. Jerry served in the Korean War and was stationed i...
Jan Ulrich’s brother Kelly Patterson began working at H&H Music Services in 1987 as an intern. Jan was hired just three years later in the service department. She works closely with h...
Walther Veerkamp was the son of the founder of Casa Veerkamp, one of the most respected and oldest music retailers in Mexico. His father, who was born in Germany, opened a small music ret...
Thomas Veerkamp proudly represents the 100-year-old company in Mexico that was formed by his grandfather in 1908. The company began as a small retail store and later expanded to one of th...
Bill Wallin is the instrument repair technician at Chafin Musiccenter in Lake Worth, Florida. Bill began working for the company alongside the store's founder, Paul Chafin. While Paul's...
Greg Way has had a long and successful career in the Canadian music retail industry and has been a strong advocate for music and music making throughout his career. As an owner of St. Jo...
Richard Webb’s grandfather opened a pawnshop in England and his father, Sydney, developed a small music division within the shop some 20 years later. Since the age of 12, Richard thought ...
Dale Wentworth put himself through college by teaching music lessons in the back of his father’s lighting store Kelowna, British Columbia. After finishing college, Dale realized that his ...
Parham Werlein followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather as president of Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like his predecessors, Parham also...
Bitsie Werlein was the last president of the famed Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. When its doors closed in 2003 it was the nation’s oldest operating music retailer. The company was e...
Ryan West shared many of his memories of traveling abroad with his father, Steve, to understand and appreciate how the business great and diversified including their early distribution of...
Steve West took over his father’s store and went on to become an industry leader who served as president of the NAMM Board. Steve recalls the days as a boy running around West Music as hi...
Dorsey Wheeler attributes some of the success of his music store to the training and ongoing support he has received from companies such as Peavey Electronics and Cannonball Musical Instr...
Kelly Wheeler and her husband Dorsey run a music retail business in Idaho with several locations. Dorsey Music was established in 1969 and just three years later Kelly walked through the ...
Jerry White and his brothers all played musical instruments growing up on their family farm in Wisconsin. Their father was a professional musician who played in popular dance bands. Jerry...
Chris White is the president of White House of Music, with multiple locations in Wisconsin. The full line store has a very strong band and orchestra element as they call on many local sc...
Lynn White may downplay the role she has played within their family’s music store business, but for all those who have been to White House of Music, her spark and passion for music are ve...
