Paul Finke played drums since he was just a kid and gravitated towards the music business in 1985 when he was hired at Willis Music. At the time the company had eight locations and workin...

Larry Noto’s father, Joe, opened Music Land in 1971. Back then Joe wanted to create a store that would provide instruments and repairs to both the gigging musician and students. Larry gre...

Fred Bernardo was repairing and teaching guitar in his local music store when the idea came to him to open his own shop. In 1972, with one guitar and a set of strings he was given as a pr...

Brenda Hebert remembers driving to the music wholesaler who represented the small store her husband formed, Cosmo Music. She was several months pregnant with her son, Mark, and was given ...

Pamela Cole played trombone in school and learned firsthand the importance of supportive people in the formative years of a young musician. After graduating from Belmont College in Nashvi...

Beverly Maxwell and her husband, Marvin, established Mom’s Music in Louisville, Kentucky in the early 1980s. Beverly took care of the books and the business end of the store while her hus...

Leigh Maples played her ukulele as her sister sang when the two were small and remains an important memory for Leigh.  She later played guitar in high school and went on to study music bu...

Mark Maxwell’s love for music retailing goes back as far as he can remember. His parents started Mom’s Music in "Kentuckiana" with stores in Jeffersonville, IN and Louisville, KY. Mark li...

Marvin Maxwell opened Mom’s Music in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife Beverly in 1981. He also designed and developed a line of music themed toilet seats called “Jammin’ Johns,” which w...

Colin Steel is the founder of Keyboard Corner and KC's Rock Shop, both located in Melbourne, Australia. Colin began his career in music retail at Brash's Music in 1968 during the great ho...

Rich Covas owned Modern Music store's three locations for thirteen years beginning in 1966. The locations covered band and orchestra instruments as well as guitar, keyboards, and drums. T...

Fred Rubin ran one of the most active and successful music stores in Miami. His father opened Ace Music in 1955 and Fred grew up in the store. When he took over the business, Fred continu...

Ziggy Haspod joined his brother-in-law in running a small music store before working for The Music Stand in Tucson, Arizona.  It was at that store where Ziggy met with many traveling sale...

Andrew Schertz runs Schertz MusiCenteR in Bloomington, Illinois, with this father Randy.  Andrew's uncle, Craig, once owned Byerly Music, which had locations throughout Centeral Illinois....

Craig Schertz worked for Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois and saw an opportunity to purchased two of the company’s ten locations when his boss and the current owner, Loren Zimmerman, was ...

Loren Zimmerman owned Byerly Music in Peoria, Illinois during the 1970s and 80s and is credited for being among the first music retailers to have locations in shopping malls.  When he pur...

Jerry Portman learned so much from his father and his grandfather about how to treat customers.  Those lessons became key as Jerry set out to not only take over the family’s music store, ...

Reese Marin is the president of Bellevue American Music in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington.  The store reflects Reese's passion for music with carefully designed display space ...

Michael Kirman was on hand for the 50 Year Milestone Awards during the 2015 NAMM Show.  The award went to Steve's Music, a chain of stores in Canada, which were established by Michael's f...

Kevin Hedley proudly recalled the inspiration behind the name of his store, Uncle Ike's Music, which he opened with his brother, Art, in Iowa. Both were encouraged in music and in busines...

Art Hedley and his brother, Kevin, caught the music bug at the time of the British Invasion of the 1960s.  They both played in bands and enjoyed witnessing the role music made in bringing...

Michael Houser is the Chief Executive Officer for Cascio Interstate Music, which serves both as a brick and mortar store in New Berlin, Wisconsin as well as an internet store.

Connie Smith is the Vice President of Ward-Brodt Music in Madison, Wisconsin. She grew up in music and enjoyed playing music as a young girl, going on to study music in college.  While in...

Tom Merritt is the general manager for The Music Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the right hand man for the company's president, Jim Paulsen.  The two have worked side by side for severa...

Jim Paulsen's father opened a small music store in Kenosha to focus on his instrument of choice, the accordion.  When young Jim encouraged his father to expand into guitars, they started ...

John Pollard first walked into Swords Music in Fort Worth, Texas as a customer.  In fact he took music lessons in the store before he was told of a position to work in the store.  The sto...

Bryan McCann is the president of Instrumental Music stores, with three locations in 2014 in and around Ventura, California.  Bryan’s career began when he teamed with a friend to purchase ...

Kenny Smith serves as the Managing Director of the Peavey Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard. However, this is only part of what he does in the shop.  Kenny is a born salesman and enjoys...

Joseph Gomes is a partner with his brother in the music company their father purchased in 1953.  BX Furtado & Son opened in 1865 in India, having a small part of their store dedicated...

Jesus "Jet" Fernando opened a small music retail store with his wife, Elizabeth, in their native Philippines.  Elizabeth grew up in her parents store across town and knew the business sid...

Elizabeth Fernando grew up in her parent’s retail music store.  By the age of ten she ordered special strings customers were asking for that her parents did not carry and sold them within...

Alan Rosen sat down for his first interview for the NAMM Oral History program in January 2014.  It was a special occasion as it was Alan’s 30th anniversary of his first show and his 30th ...