Ellen Warmoth and her husband, William, created a true “Mom and Pop” music store when they opened Artisan Guitars in Franklin, Tennessee, not far from Nashville. The store has a wonderfu...
Dave Miller was just 14 years old when he cut grass for a summer to pay off a neighbor for their old guitar. He and his friends would hang out at the local music store, which was Western...
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...
Toni Wine can be heard singing the line “I can make your life so sweet” as one of the Archies on the 1969 hit record “Sugar, Sugar.” As a songwriter she wrote her first song when she was...
Dr. Carlton Young has had a most interesting career as an editor and arranger of church music for hymnals and for music publishers such as Hope Music. His passion for church music began ...
Ted Wade was raised in a house full of music! His father played trumpet with several big bands such as Clyde McCoy during the swing era. When Ted was four years old he was playing drums...
Lauren Vogel Weiss was playing in the high school band but struggling to find the accessories she needed. This program gave her and her father, Harvey, an idea. Together they formed Lon...
Bill Piburn wrote four method books for the Mel Bay Publishing Company on the art of guitar playing. His writing was well received by many who praised him for his unique and easy to unde...
Larry Morton grew up in a family in St. Louis that had a strong love of music. His parents provided piano lessons for his older sister and later Larry began learning music. His father enc...
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...
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...
Dee Hoyt played professionally since he was a teenager including in local clubs and played for the National Guard as well as for dances. His band, the Tornados, recorded and performed ro...
Gary Hanser grew up in the music industry. His grandfather formed a small music store and distribution business in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1924. Since that time the company has ex...
Meredith Hamlin is the general manager of the Kyser Music Product Company in Canton, Texas. She is proud of the company her uncle formed in 1975, and the fact that all of their products ...
Scott Peck is the President of Pecknel Music Company, the music store in Greenville, South Carolina that was formed by his grandfather. Scott grew up in the business, cleaning floors and...
Jim Gurley had more stories than just about any one else in the NAMM Oral History collection! He taught guitar in Los Angles area music stores while picking up guitars at Rickenbacker Gu...
Ken Fuente is among the music industry’s top sales reps! He has established himself as an innovative and creative salesman who has befriended his competition to learn all he could about ...
Ida Eleck worked alongside her husband who was a big band musician and band director who had the idea of opening a music store. Ida was thrilled with the idea as it gave her more time to...
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 ...
Harvey Vogel was having a difficult time finding and purchasing quality percussion instruments and accessories for his daughter Lauren while she was in high school. He decided to do somet...
Sally Lindner once owned and operated a beauty shop in the small farming community of Watertown, South Dakota. After her husband, Rod, opened a music store in town, she could hardly wait...
Paul Jameson was a pioneer in audio wholesaling as the founder of Custom Products, located in Magnolia, Arkansas. His company was among the first to sell microphones, PA systems and spea...
Tom Haggerty grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota where he learned to play the guitar. He gigged for many years on the road, which at one point took him to Nashville where he wrote...
Jim Bornhorst was hired by Rusty Brutsche, the founder of Showco, to assist with the development of sound systems. In just a short time, Jim proved he was able to design systems as well ...
Dolores Crooks remembered her husband working in the garage at all hours of the night on a new sound he was after. He tooled his own guitar amplifier and took it down to country dances t...
Mike Lang was a well-respected keyboardist who can be heard on over 2,000 movie scores and countless studio recordings over his long and successful career. He worked with composers such ...
Dolores Crooks remembers her husband working in the garage at all hours of the night on a new sound he was after. He tooled his own guitar amplifier and took it down to country dances to...
Mike Lang is the well-respected keyboardist who can be heard on over 2,000 movie scores and countless studio recordings over his long and successful career. He has worked with composers ...
Sam Radding is the founder the famed American Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company, which was the training ground for several future iconic luthiers including Bob Taylor, Kurt Listug ...
Richie Pidanick was the Vice President of Culture and Values at Guitar Center. It was Richie’s job to train the company’s employees on the philosophy of what is most important to the cor...
