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...
Victor Himbaugh was still a teenager when he purchased used instruments and sound systems from newspaper ads just to clean them up and resell them out of his mother’s basement. He took vi...
Jerry Kennedy was just a young teenager when he and a friend heard Elvis Presley’s first Sun Record. They were blown away by the electric guitar they heard but realized in photographs Elv...
Joy Hood Weaver is widely known for her 1977 gospel album Jesus Is The Cornerstone, which served as an influence for Contemporary Christian artists who followed. The album, recorded at Le...
Kevin McGinty is the audio engineer and Front of House for one of the most historic venues in music, the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tennessee. Kevin began mixing Live Sound while in hi...
Dominic Messinger was inspired to play music by his mother who played the oboe. At the age of ten he started playing the oboe as well and expanded to the saxophone to perform in rock band...
Russ Gazda recalls listening to his mother playing the Hawaiian Guitar as a child. He played the accordion and later was introduced to the Hammond B-3, thanks to recordings by his hero Bo...
Tom Tuson was just 12 years old when he was hired by the Wurlitzer company to demonstrate their organs. As a “Wurlitzer Kid” he played at state fairs and supermarkets to gain the attentio...
James Harding is very passionate about his role in the music industry and particularly proud of his efforts to foster strong relationships between piano dealers and piano teachers. James ...
