Walt Aldridge attended the University of Alabama, majoring in business when he switched over to the University of North Alabama, enrolling in their music business program because they had...
Steve Cooley was just a kid when he heard Earl Scrugg playing banjo on the TV show “The Beverly Hillbillies.” The performance lit a spark in Steve who began playing guitar and banjo with ...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
Jerry Lard is a piano technician in the Muscle Shoals area in Northern Alabama. The region is famously known for its string of recording studios for which Jerry has served as technician f...
Suzanne Bolton began working for the famous Muscle Shoals Sound recording studio in 1985. The studio had recently been acquired by Malaco Records out of Jackson, Mississippi, which was th...
Terry Woodford would often sing along as a child while his grandfather played the Steel Guitar. In addition to his early connection with music, Terry was fascinated by the process of reco...
Stephanie Brown taught high school English in the Muscle Shoals area of Northern Alabama. Future music publisher and advocate for this oral history program, Kevin Lamb, was among her 10th...
Phil Hunt is the founder and president of Hunt Media, a broadcast and digital consulting group. With his impressive career in radio, Phil provides strategic planning and market analysis f...
Mike McGuire and his brother Bud were always encouraged to write and perform music while growing up in Northern Alabama. Their uncle, Leon Jackson, wrote the country classic “Love Please ...
Melissa Foster loves talking about the Bluegrass group her family formed, beginning when she was just a child. The Foster Family String Band toured all over the United States, mostly on w...
Ann Foster is the matriarch of the Foster Family String Band and a guitar player in this Bluegrass group. Her husband Bill and his brother sang as a duet growing up so it was natural for ...
Lisa Silver likes to joke that in country bands she plays the fiddle, and in classical music performances she plays the violin. Yet she is talking about her one instrument! Her father was...
Mark Narmore was influenced by his famous songwriting cousin, Spooner Oldham. Mark began playing keyboards in recording studios in and around Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which is where he too...
Charles Rose began playing trombone in the 7th grade and by 1970, when he was still a teenager, formed a band with three trombones. It was the beginning of a long and successful career in...
Marie Lewey is a noted backup singer based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she worked in all of the local recording studios as well as many in Nashville. Teaming with her dear friends Ci...
Cindy Richardson-Walker sang backup on hundreds of recordings and sang in live shows with the likes of Garth Brooks, George Jones, Shania Twain, Alabama, and many others. Her understandin...
Will McFarlane has proudly traveled the world touring with some of the biggest names in music as a journeyman musician. He toured with Bonnie Raitt in the 1970s, which was a wonderful exp...
Billy Lawson grew up close to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he formed a band while still a teenager. He became friends with many of the local studio musicians and songwriters including Ca...
Lenny LeBlanc and his friend Peter Carr formed a band together in 1975. LeBlanc & Carr, as they were known, had a big hit with the song “Falling” in 1977, which Lenny co-wrote with Ed...
Mac McAnally, inspired by his mother took piano lessons and then later switched to guitar. His mother played piano and organ in their church, and the hymns he heard also inspired him to p...
David Rosenthal has been playing keyboards in Billy Joel’s band since 1993, much of that time as the music director. He’s done everything from arranging Billy’s music for live orchestra t...
Charlene Montgomery wrote several songs with her husband, Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery, including dozens recorded by country legend George Jones. A song the couple wrote together along with ...
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...
Clayton Ivey is proud to have been the first white producer to sign exclusively with Motown Records. As a result of his work at Motown (which was located in Los Angeles at that time), Cla...
Mickey Buckins played a significant role in the success of the FAME recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The studio’s founder, Rick Hall, hired Mickey in 1967 to assist with managi...
Travis Wammack is a recording artist, studio musician, and songwriter who worked closely with Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Travis charted his first hi...
Jim Greenhill opened Jim’s Music store in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The area was brimming with recording activity in 1977 when Jim opened the store and as a result, most of the studio sessi...
