Whispering Bill Anderson began his music career as a songwriter penning the 1958 hit “City Lights” for Ray Price. Within a few years Bill was encouraged to sing some of his songs in his l...
Bobby Bare Sr. began writing songs as a teenager and landed a hit record with the talking blues song "All American Boy" in 1958 when Bobby was just 18 years old. He followed that recordin...
Lou Bradley served as a recording engineer in the famous Quonset Hut Studios in Nashville, TN which was operated by Owen Bradley (no relation). Among the thousands of recordings Lou playe...
Jimmy Capps backed nearly every performer at the Grand Ole Opry as a house band guitarist since 1960! The list of artists he played with is nothing more than amazing and represents the gr...
Mark Casstevens has always had a deep passion for music. He sang in church choirs and began piano lessons at age six, eventually teaching himself guitar. In high school in Ft. Worth, TX, ...
Roy Clark, the Country Music Hall of Fame guitar player, was always proud of his connection with the music products industry. In addition to the products he endorsed over his long career,...
Buddy Emmons is on the short list of the most influential steel pedal guitarists in the world. Along with Alvino Rey and Speedy West, Buddy helped define the role of the instrument in pop...
Elaine Frizzell was an artist endorser for the Mosrite Guitar Company back in the 1960s. Over the years she became close friends with the company’s founders, Semi and Andy Mosley. She wit...
Steve Gibson repeated, “I’ve been blessed,” which acted as a recurring theme throughout his NAMM Oral History interview. The sentiment comes from a review of his extraordinary career as a...
Vince Gill attended his first NAMM Show when he was nineteen years old and living in Los Angeles, California, back in 1977. Over the years, Vince has supported many music retailers and s...
Norman Hamlet was just a kid when he heard this strange but wonderful sound during a Grand Ole Opry radio program. He was told the sound came from a Hawaiian Guitar, which was a term used...
Randy Hart has played piano and keyboards since he was a kid, however, his early career in the music industry was booking bands in the Washington DC area. One such band was Tractor, for w...
Hoot Hester was a regular on the Grand Ole Opry and the Nashville recording studios as one of country music’s top violin (or perhaps “fiddle” is most appropriate) players. Hoots passion f...
Bud Isaacs designed a line of pedal steel guitars, teaming with fellow country music performer Shot Jackson to form the Sho-Bud Company. In his pursuit to create and develop new sounds fo...
Irene Kelley was raised in a culturally rich musical home. HXer father was a musician as was her older brother, who played guitar in the Chet Atkins style. Irene learned to play the guita...
Doug Kershaw is the wild man of Cajun music who has been a powerful ambassador for the musical style around the world for many decades. His passion and high energy performances gained the...
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turni...
Kerry Marx is the Music Director for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. He began working for the Opry in 2000 as a member of the staff band. The band regularly backs up the many ...
Kevin McGinty is the audio engineer and Front of House for one of the most historic venues in music, the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tennessee. Kevin began mixing Live Sound while in hi...
Eamon McLoughlin grew up in England where his father had a band, which later developed into a family Country style band that included Eamon and his two sisters. He attended college in Aus...
Jesse McReynolds was one half of the popular county and bluegrass duo Jim & Jesse. His late brother made up the other half, which by the way was once called Jesse & James, but th...
Jesse McReynolds was one half of the popular country and bluegrass duo Jim & Jesse. His late brother made up the other half, which by the way was once called Jesse & James, a name...
Eugene Moles grew up surrounded by music. His father was a studio musician who also had a guitar repair shop in Bakersfield, California (he was an expert on refinishing, he added the famo...
Peanutt Montgomery grew up in Texas and took to playing the guitar at an early age. He formed a band that played for troops at military bases in the area and formed a trio with future act...
Bobby Osborne is the mandolin/guitarist who teamed with his brother to form one of the most beloved duets in bluegrass music history. The Osborne Brothers recorded several key songs for ...
Charley Pride was born one of 11 children in Sledge, Mississippi. Although he enjoyed music as child and learned to pick out songs on guitar by ear, Charley had a desire to be a professio...
Leon Rhodes was one of the most beloved country music guitarists in history. He established himself as a clever and hard driving musician as part of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours. Leon’...
Curly Seckler was a pioneer in the development of Bluegrass music. He began performing professionally in 1935, on a daily radio program on WSTP in Salisbury, NC. After the breakup of the...
Ricky Skaggs is the internationally known Country Music performer and Bluegrass mandolin player who sat in front of our cameras to discuss his passion for Pro-Audio gear. Ricky covered hi...
Bruce Waters grew up with his guitar ever-present. He played for small events around the Chicago area as a kid and started providing music lessons when he was 18 years old. He later toure...
Mark Wills grew up in Blueridge, Georgia, with a passion for music. His local music store was Ken Stanton Music, where he often went for accessories for the Gibson archtop he was given as...
Spider Wilson began recording with Little Jimmy Dickens in 1947 and over the years backed nearly every performer at the Grand Ole Opry as a house band guitarist from the late 1950s until ...
