Country Music

Muriel Anderson sure puts her heart and soul into her music as both a performer and songwriter. Over the years the music products industry has been lucky to be closely associated with Murial thanks to her endorsement of instruments and accessories as well as her widely successful All Star Guitar Nights, a feature at NAMM Shows since 2000. Her many projects include raising funds for school music programs and music education.
 

Whispering Bill Anderson began his music career as a songwriter penning the 1958 hit “City Lights” for Ray Price. Within a few years Bill was encouraged to sing some of his songs in his low and mellow way. The results were a string of hit songs including the cross-over smash record “Still” in 1963 and a nickname, Whispering Bill. Over the years he has been an actor, game show star and television host but found himself back to songwriting from the 1990s onwards. Music is a great part of Whispering Bill and, luckily for us, he is still sharing it with the world. 

AV (Bam) Bamford was a colorful country music producer originally from Cuba. During the mid-1930s, he owned and operated a string of radio stations, mostly in the southern United States. As a promoter of these stations, he often befriended performers who would perform live on the radio or at remote locations such as state fairs. Over the years he was asked to manage a number of musicians, including Hank Williams. In fact, during our interview with Bam, he recounted the final days of the country legend and the last time they saw each other, which was just hours before Williams died.  

Ray Benson and two friends formed a country rock band in 1970 called Asleep At The Wheel. Ever since that time Ray has continued to play with the band, which has seen nearly 100 musicians come and go, but Ray remained! His colorful career has had its highs and lows, most of which he has expressed in song over the years including in 1975 hit “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read.” In more recent years Ray has worked with Willie Nelson and others on Asleep At The Wheel material, which has continued to find a growing audience for over 40 years.
 

Harold Bradley is one of the most recorded guitarists in the history of Nashville. Harold and his brother, the legendary producer, Owen Bradley, created a new feel in country music, a style known today as the “Nashville Sound.” Harold can be heard on classic recordings such as “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “Little Sister” by Elvis Presley. Advocating music education and playing a strong role in preserving the history of music and its Nashville connection, Harold has been a popular and effective leader as President of the Musicians Union and an author of several important articles on music and music making.  

Junior Brown is a performer/inventor who dreamed of a sound to offset his rockabilly and blues styles. He designed a slide guitar and an electric guitar into one unit that did not require putting one down to play the other. The Git-Steel Guitar is now in production. It is his lead instrument in his live and recorded performances, including his best known song “Highway Patrol.” It is clear the instrument he designed and created has become a large part of the unique style he has developed. However, his songwriting and playing methods also echo his heroes such as blues and early rockabilly artists Carl Perkins and early Elvis Presley.
 

Wayne Burdick’s pedal steel guitar made by Paul Bigsby graced the cover of the luthier’s first catalog. Wayne befriended Mr. Bigsby in the 1950s while Wayne was a member of the Tex Williams Western Swing Orchestra. Wayne’s pedal steel can be heard on hundreds of recordings and in fact the very instrument made by Paul Bigsby was later purchased by Ron Middlebrook who loaned it to the Museum of Making Music for display beginning in 2008. Wayne also had a long friendship with Rob Crook, the creator of the Standel Amplifier. Wayne thought very highly of Crook and Bigsby and shared some of his thoughts on the men during his NAMM Oral History interview.
 

Jimmy Capps has backed nearly every performer at the Grand Ole Opry as a house band guitarist since 1960! The list of artists he played with is nothing more than amazing and represents the grand old pioneers such as Roy Acuff as well as current Opry members such as Vince Gill and Garth Brooks. Along the way he was a sought after studio musician who recorded with another vast list of country, bluegrass and rock artists. His career has been historic!

Billy Carson was listed in the Guinness book of world records for growing the largest watermelon ever weighed. And if you think that is something, consider the fact that Billy also worked with Leo Fender in streamlining the Stratocaster electric guitar in the early 1950s. As a country player in Southern California in the late 1940s, Billy became close friends with Leo. At the time, Leo was a radio repair man who helped musicians on the side fixing their amplifiers. Over the years, Billy related his frustration over the way the sharp edge of his guitar would cut into his ribs. Leo designed the Stratocaster to fit nicely against the body and added other ideas of Billy’s over the years.

Gene Chrisman was among the celebrated studio musicians from Tennessee who played on countless recordings and helped shape the Memphis Sound during the 1960s and 70s. Gene’s creative drumming style has been cited by percussionists around the world as an influence on their own careers. Chris was the drummer in the California Recording Studio in Memphis, which produced a string of hits for artists such as Willie Nelson and Elvis Presley. For Elvis, Gene played the drums on “Suspicious Minds,” “Kentucky Rain” and “In the Ghetto.”