Cindy Lee Berryhill is the creative singer/songwriter whose twist on Folk Music (with a bit of a Punk Rock edge) has led to several albums and performances around the world. In 1987 Rhino...

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...

Harry Tuft is a true legend in the world of Folk music! As founder of the Denver Folklore Center, he has provided instruments to music makers of all ages. As a promoter of all things folk...

Bill Seymour played several instruments in school including the trumpet, drums, and violin. Early in his career he established a software company with a focus on relational databases. He ...

Steve Miller led a popular rock band beginning in the 1960s with a string of hit songs, most of which he wrote. His passion for music began at a very young age. Did you know Les Paul was ...

Dave Bresnan had a true passion for music that began when he was fifteen when he learned to play the piano. Throughout the 1960’s, Dave played guitar and banjo in several groups after dis...

Fred Oster was encouraged by his cousin to play the guitar as a youngster, which quickly expanded to include playing the mandolin and the five string banjo. By the time Fred was playing b...

Betty Comer has owned and operated Gibson’s Music in Corbin, Kentucky since 1969. When asked about the store, Betty fondly describes Gibson’s as “the Mom and Pop store but just with the M...

Owen Ray recalls his father buying him a ukulele when he was a kid and his passion for string instruments began! Owen played a vital role in the Australian guitar market when he started r...

Bobby Bare Sr. began writing songs as a teenager and landed a hit record with the talking blues song "All American Boy" in 1958 when Bobby was just 18 years old. He followed that recordin...

Rick Nielsen is among the very few rock stars who grew up in a music store! His story and background is perfect for the NAMM Oral History program as it ties together a professional career...

Stu Cohen grew up playing the clarinet, and took lessons for close to eight years. In the early 1950s, Stu listened mostly to country music on the radio, just because it was the only stat...

Ed Gerhard knew that there was something special about playing the guitar when he heard Andrés Segovia play on TV when he was 10 years old. He took a few lessons from a music store but le...

Elliot Easton often visited Grayson's Music in Long Island, New York as a kid. He ordered his first custom left handed electric guitar from Mr. Grayson, who always treated Elliot with kin...

Don McLean walked into the House of Music in New Rochelle, New York as a kid dreaming of owning a Martin Guitar.  When he finally owned one, that instrument assisted him in writing severa...

Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter ...

Richard Gellis remembers the early days of the vintage guitar movement when greater value was being placed on "used instruments."  As his small store grew in Santa Cruz, California, so di...

Ledward Kaapana grew up in Hawaii with his twin brother, surrounded by musical passion.  His parents, grandparents and several aunts and uncles played and sang, and Ledward can recall his...

David Magagna had an incredible career selling guitars for some of the biggest names in the industry.  He worked for the government out of high school and attended college in Georgetown b...

Bob Shane was among the most influential performers of the folk music boom of the late 1950s and 60s.  As an original member of the Kingston Trio, Bob was at the cornerstone of the Americ...

Chris Thomas has worked in several areas of the C.F. Martin & Company factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.  Chris worked in the binding department among others before having the opportu...

Amani Duncan served as the Vice President of Marketing for C.F. Martin & Company in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Since joining the company, Amani has focused her attention on embracing the...

Fred Greene enjoys running the C.F. Martin & Company factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in fact you could say it is his dream job.  As a guitarist he has passion to the tenth degree w...

Debra Karlowitch likes to tell people that she started working at C.F. Martin & Company the same week Chris Martin joined full time!  At the time of her NAMM Oral History interview in...

John Dee Holeman was an influential blues performer known as the last surviving original musician who popularized the Piedmont Blues style.  The finger-picking guitar style was also known...

Maudie Moore was hired by Gibson Guitars in 1962 to do small piece work and soon branched out to engraving, which became a specialty for her over the next several decades.  In fact, she o...

Paul Tobias is the son of the founder of Tobias Guitars, which is located in Downers Grove, Illinois and specializes in handcrafted acoustic guitars such as those made by Taylor, Martin a...

Ken Tobias loved repairing guitars for himself and his friends and was able to turn it into a business in the early 1970s when he opened Tobias Guitars in Downers Grove, Illinois. One of ...

Don Oriolo grew up in a very creative home. His father was the cartoonist behind such characters as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Felix the Cat. Don developed a passion for music as a chi...

Paul Werkheiser often says he would never trade his memories of the years he worked for the C.F. Martin & Company. He expressed the family-like relationships he had and the pleasure i...

Earl Remaley began working for the C.F. Martin & Company before World War II. His long career with the company included nearly every phase of production and assembly. During the 1950s...

Marcellus Trach recalls with a smile the many rules a wood worker had to follow in the C.F. Martin & Company when he was first hired after World War II. He also expressed the pride so...