Ben Jack was born and raised in Arkansas, so it was no surprise that the passionate steel pedal guitarist would open up a string of successful stores in and around Fayetteville. As one of...
Patrick Jacobson, along with his friends and fellow Roper Music employees Seth Strickland and Kris Kjeldgaard, became owners of the store in 2019. Their mentor and teacher, John Handley, ...
Michael Jago has always had a great deal of respect for music retailers and can boast of working with several over his long career. He started retail with one of his early mentors in the ...
Dennis James recalls with a smile the day he visited Colton Piano as a teenager. He later worked for Colton founder, Vern Schaffer, getting the experience and training for the career he h...
Richard Janda specialized in repairing stringed instruments. It was also something he enjoyed very much. During World War II he was trained to repair the band instruments for the U.S. Mil...
Charlotte Jansky and her husband Joe set off to fulfill his long time dream, owning a music store. They opened Allegro Music in Fremont, California, in 1960 much to the delight of Joe who...
David Jarrett was given his father's old Martin cornet when he took an interest in music as a 5th grader. This led to playing the trumpet in school and soon a deep passion for playing dev...
Kevin Jarvis began working for Gelb Music in Redwood City, California in 1966 as a guitar teacher. The store was established in 1939 by Sydney Gelb, who was still running the store when ...
John Jarvis is the president and owner of the music retail store in Florida, Music Man. His father was a band director back in 1944 who retired to Florida in 1973 and opened a small store...
Stanley Jay always admired rare and special fretted musical instruments, so it came as no surprise when he and his friend, Haf Kuffner, opened a guitar shop on Staten Island in New York. ...
Rick Jefferies was focused on pre-med when he attended college in Jackson, Tennessee, but had a change of direction when he took a part time job at a local music store. The store sold St...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Al Jensen began his musical career at the age of 13 playing clarinet in a Vaudeville show. That is, he played until his parents found out where he was playing. His band director convinced...
Marie Jensen was born in Rosebud, Texas as the daughter of a Texas Ranger. She graduated college in Houston with a business degree before meeting Al Jensen on a blind date. The two were m...
David Jenson spent his early childhood in Southern California and was inspired early on by The Beach Boys and surf rock, but began his musical journey in earnest after moving to Utah and ...
Ray Jent sought to bring service to the Lubbock, Texas, community when he opened a music retail store just after serving in World War II. Ray worked closely with the school band directors...
Mickey Jent opened a small music store in Lubbock, Texas after World War II with her husband, Ray, after his return from military service. The store became a hub for local musicians inclu...
Jim Hart has two passions, music and animals! His love of music began for him in the 6th grade when he began playing drums for the school music program. In 1981, his family purchased a mu...
Fernando Jimenez partnered with his wife, Andrea Fernandez, to open a music store in Bolivia. The store opened in 2015 with the goal of providing the gear local musicians need, ranging fr...
Marc Johnson was a band director for 27 years and in retirement felt he could help the younger generation of directors. While working for Mississippi Music as a school road rep, Marc has ...
Donald Johnson was known throughout the industry as DJ. He began working in music retail in 1958 in the San Jose, California, area before joining Coast Wholesale in 1961. It was an intere...
Rosi Johnson was hired by the founder of Mississippi Music and her future father in law, Jimmy Johnson, as the in-house accountant. She took over the financial end of the entire business...
Dex Johnson grew up in the music retail business. His mother and father formed their store, Mississippi Music, after World War II and his father became an industry leader, even serving as...
Bix Johnson’s parents started a small retail business out of their home following World War II, which grew into the multi-chain of stores for Mississippi Music. Bix grew up in the busines...
Todd (TJ) Johnson serves as a manager of the Groth Music Store in Bloomington, Minnesota. As a singer and entertainer, TJ has offered his understanding of the needs of professionals who c...
Bruce Johnson began his career in the music industry working in the accounting department for Wurlitzer in DeKalb, Illinois. While on the job he began outlining a computer program that c...
James Johnson was first and foremost a band director -- a well respected one at that! He opened Mississippi Music while still teaching and soon became involved with a long list of industr...
Mac Johnson, as she is known throughout the music industry, was the devoted wife of Mississippi Music founder Jimmy Johnson. She was also the mother of their sons, Bix and Dex, both of wh...
Ashley Johnson is the daughter of Rosi and Dex Johnson and the granddaughter of the founders of Mississippi Music, Mac and Jimmy. Ashley shared many of her favorite memories of growing up...
Carl Johnston is the store manager for the Hattiesburg location of Mississippi Music. His family ran a local grocery store for which Carl credits for instilling his belief in the importan...
Richard Johnston began buying and selling used fretted instruments long before there was a "vintage guitar market." Back when Richard started they were just known as used instruments, bu...
