Carma Lou Beck was an active musician and teacher when she began working in music retail in Iowa in the 1960s. She opened her own store in Cedar Rapids in 1967, after working for a few ot...
Tom Bedell began giving guitar lessons in his home town of Spirit Lake, Iowa. Just a few months later, when Tom was 14 years old, he imported guitars with his name on the headstock from ...
Michael Boddicker grew up in a music store, one his parents formed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and where his love for music began! His amazing musical career has covered many areas, although i...
David Brown grew up in the music industry working with his grandfather at his store, Critchett’s Music in Des Moines, Iowa. Dave started at a young age, first washing windows in the back ...
Harry Carter was already a school band director when he opened a music store in Ottumwa, Iowa. The year was 1948 when Harry and two partners set out to develop a store specializing in cus...
Doug Davis has been involved in the music industry for most of his life. Getting the bug to play while playing in the Honor band in school, Doug went on to get a degree in music education...
Jim Foster had worked for a few piano stores before opening his own store, with his wife Marilyn, in Bettendorf, Iowa. Foster Family Music focuses on piano and sheet music for pianos and...
Marilyn Foster supported her husband's idea to open a music store in her home state of Iowa. From the beginning, she looked after all of the books and accounting for the store. She enjoy...
Christi Foster-Nunnally grew up in her parent's Iowa piano store and recalls with fondness getting paid a nickel to dust each piano. She became a buyer for a local chain department store...
Arthur Griggs will make you smile when you hear him talk about the two loves of his life, his wife and the music industry. Sitting in his easy chair, next to the fireplace, in his Glencoe...
Ray Guntren is the president of Midbell Music in Iowa, a retail store he first began working at when he was a teenager. Over the years the chance came up for Ray to purchase the store, w...
Art Hedley and his brother, Kevin, caught the music bug at the time of the British Invasion of the 1960s. They both played in bands and enjoyed witnessing the role music made in bringing...
Kevin Hedley proudly recalled the inspiration behind the name of his store, Uncle Ike's Music, which he opened with his brother, Art, in Iowa. Both were encouraged in music and in busines...
Steve Held was involved in music retail beginning when he was a teenager working at the Music Corner in Waterloo, Iowa. He later worked for West Music in Iowa City for well over a decade ...
Glenn Howard was the first salesman hired by the Winter Piano Company following World War II. Raised in Marshalltown, Iowa, Glen was the son of a real estate broker who fell on hard times...
Steve Judge is the president of Griggs Music in Davenport, one of the oldest music retailers in the country. Formed in 1903, the company has gained a reputation for staying power, which ...
Mark Kelly served on the Midwest Band Clinic board for over 30 years, beginning in the 1980s and played a vital role in the growth and popularity of the clinic and its programs. He attend...
Lynn Kephart worked with her husband Russ to establish the Iowa-based Kephart Music Centers. Her attention to details was the perfect match for accounting, inventory and payroll in the pr...
Russell Kephart enjoyed his years as a band director but found great satisfaction when he opened his own music store and could provide the service he felt band directors were missing. The...
Rusty Kephart is the president of the music company his parents established as a small music store in Iowa. Rusty grew up in the store and developed his own passion for music, as a liste...
Wendy Kephart remembers her father bringing her to Kephart’s Music Center when she was a young girl. While she did study music, she recalled it was because her father was a working music...
Denny Lawson began learning and playing instrumental music while in college. He soon found he had a great interest in playing music and switched his major to music education. While he w...
Jessica Palmer, as a passionate music maker throughout school and a music education major in college, was impressed by West Music's approach towards supporting band directors. As a young ...
Laurie Prosser and her husband Duane worked together at a small piano store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, before moving to Washington state in 1955. There the couple opened the first Pros...
Craig Schertz worked for Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois and saw an opportunity to purchased two of the company’s ten locations when his boss and the current owner, Loren Zimmerman, was ...
Robin Walenta attended the University of Northern Iowa and Middle Tennessee State University before joining West Music in 1982. She was named president/CEO of the company in 2007. Robin w...
Eleanor West and her husband Pearl established a music store in Iowa City just a year after getting married in 1940. Eleanor was the bookkeeper in the early years of West Music Company an...
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...
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...
Lou Witt grew up on a small farm in Iowa and one day asked his band director in school for an instrument. He was given a trombone and has played the instrument ever since. He enjoyed pl...
