Mel Bay Publications

William Bay grew up in the music business and like his father, contributed to the field of music method publications.  Mel Bay was a pioneer in guitar method books, which he designed for players of all levels.  He formed the Mel Bay Music Publishing Company in 1947 outside of St. Louis, MO.  William learned guitar at a young age and began creating his own methods of teaching guitar to others.  Over the years, William took over as president of the company and has authored over 200 publications for the company.

Dan Levenson wrote the book on banjo playing, in fact six books. His love of old time music and his great talents as a musician have made him a well known and respected player, teacher and historian. For decades he has traveled the country with banjo and fiddle in hand to present the rich history of Appalachian music to audiences old and young. Dan’s Mel Bay publications include “Buzzard Banjo,” “Clawhammer Banjo From Scratch” and “Old-Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo.”