Jack Wyatt is well known in the piano industry as the historian of the Piano Technicians Guild. In fact, when the PTG opened a museum in their home office in Kansas City, MO, Jack was the...
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 ...
Bob Williamson was involved in the piano and organ business since he was a boy. His father sold Baldwin Pianos out of his barn in Southwest Nebraska. The Williamson Baldwin store never ha...
Jimmy (J.M.) Van Eaton was the house drummer for a little recording company in Memphis that began one of the centers of the birth of rock’n’ roll. Sun Records was formed by Sam Philips in...
Ron Tutt is best known for playing drums behind Elvis Presley during most of the king’s tours during the 1970s. Ron grew up with a deep passion for music and the drums, which led him to a...
Dee Starkey recalls the days when his father, Jim, had a well known dance band in Wichita and played at night while teaching music during the day. In 1954 he opened Jim Starkey Music wit...
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...
David Saul is a leading expert on player piano rolls and the AMPICO Company. David was interviewed in his El Cajon, CA home in June 2011 and spoke of his career as an engineer. He worked ...
Ted Sambell was born in London, England and made his living as a piano technician in London, and Ontario, Canada. With poor eyesight Ted was often told he was limited in his career choice...
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’...
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 ...
Fred Morgan was one of the few GI’s, returning home from World War II, who were accepted to the Conn School of Musical Instrument Repair the first year it started. The year was 1946 and F...
Dale Miller was just 27 when he decided to open a music store. The year was 1974 and it was the first of many firsts for the passionate guitarist who enjoyed working with others to bring ...
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...
Ben McKlveen had a very colorful life as a service man during World War II and a piano technician who cared for the instruments of many top performers and orchestras. He played oboe in th...
Taylor Mackinnon grew up in a very musical family and his father played a key role in introducing Taylor to a variety of instrumental music. Taylor was a choral music major and earned a m...
A. A. (Sid) La Grandeur was trained in band instrument repair in Elkhart, Indiana before returning to Santa Barbara, California where he opened his own shop. The repair shop soon became a...
Ken Ingram served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Selmer Company in Elkhart, Indiana. He enjoyed working with the dealers around the country and the staff at Selmer, whic...
Colin Hilborne has stories to tell! As the drum tech for performers such as Faces and Elton John, Colin has seen his share of wild concerts and screaming fans! Behind those stories are th...
Leo Henrichs and his friend Raughi Ebert formed the group Tierra Negra to combine their love of flamenco and their passion for rhythms to create a fresh feeling to guitar music. They have...
Ed Hamrick enjoyed playing the drums ever since he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. From that moment on, he played drums and in the early 1970s established his own drum sh...
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...
Mark Goff was ready to work for a musical instrument manufacturer after college when he was told that he needed retail experience. Impressed with the idea and eager to learn all he could ...
Joe Glaser has always enjoyed taking a damaged guitar and repairing it to bring it back to playing condition. His passion for the craftsmanship of guitar repairs has made him one of the s...
Richard Fruhauf is the vice president of the company his grandfather established in Wichita, Kansas in 1910. Fruhauf Uniforms has become one of the long time suppliers of marching band u...
Kenny Fruhauf recalls with a smile the years he spent working with his grandfather, Lou, the founder of Fruhauf Uniforms in Wichita, Kansas. Lou built the business on creative designs, c...
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...
Ren Ferguson is among the most noted master luthiers in the United States and has been since the 1970s. Many luthiers who wish to follow his style of building have studied his approach to...
G. Frank Emerson is a piano designer whose roots are firmly based in piano technician training and experiences he was involved with in the early part of his career. He became a well respe...
Raughi Ebert along with Leo Henrichs had dreams of combining their love of flamenco-style guitar playing to form a duet and perform together. This dream became a reality in 1994 when they...
