Porter Howell recalls with a smile that his piano-playing mom forced young Porter to play the guitar. In school, he participated in choir and band, which is when he met his future bandmat...
Eric Dahl recalls his father playing bass guitar as a kid and the wide range of records in his home growing up, from jazz to the blues. As a small child, he was given a Casper the Friendl...
Norman Hamlet was just a kid when he heard this strange but wonderful sound during a Grand Ole Opry radio program. He was told the sound came from a Hawaiian Guitar, which was a term used...
Jim Shaw formed his own country band in Fresno, earning a nice living when he heard Buck Owens opened a recording studio down the road in Bakersfield. Jim thought he could go down and mak...
Robert Price has been a journalist his entire professional life, in fact, he wrote for the newspapers at his high school and colleges before landing a job at the Bakersfield Californian p...
Jim Collins was given a Silvertone Guitar by his dad following the Beatle’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan television program, an event he still recounts with enthusiasm. Jim took a day jo...
Roger Cook was born in Bristol, England, and was involved with making music at an early age. He sang in a local Doo Wop group while a teenager, which is when he met his longtime friend an...
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...
Walt Aldridge attended the University of Alabama, majoring in business when he switched over to the University of North Alabama, enrolling in their music business program because they had...
Steve Cooley was just a kid when he heard Earl Scrugg playing banjo on the TV show “The Beverly Hillbillies.” The performance lit a spark in Steve who began playing guitar and banjo with ...
Eamon McLoughlin grew up in England where his father had a band, which later developed into a family Country style band that included Eamon and his two sisters. He attended college in Aus...
Kerry Marx is the Music Director for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. He began working for the Opry in 2000 as a member of the staff band. The band regularly backs up the many ...
Mark Wills grew up in Blueridge, Georgia, with a passion for music. His local music store was Ken Stanton Music, where he often went for accessories for the Gibson archtop he was given as...
Randy Hart has played piano and keyboards since he was a kid, however, his early career in the music industry was booking bands in the Washington DC area. One such band was Tractor, for w...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Bill Lloyd is one half of the country duo Foster & Lloyd. Along with his partner Radney Foster, Bill wrote and recorded several hit songs including “Crazy Over You” and “Since I Found...
Margaret Woods receives great satisfaction bringing joy to others as an entertainer! Even as a small child dancing on tables, Margaret realized she could make others smile. When her fathe...
Greg Martin was able to combine the many musical styles he admired growing up when he helped form the Kentucky Headhunters. The band made up of friends began playing together in 1968 and ...
Randy Dorman joined Kenny Rogers' road band in 1977 and worked with the legendary country singer until his last tour in 2017. Along the way Randy performed with each one of Kenny’s guest ...
Cowboy Joe Babcock is a singer and songwriter whose career in country music spans over sixty years. As a vocalist he and Hurshel Wiginton formed a backup studio singing group called The N...
Eugene Moles grew up surrounded by music. His father was a studio musician who also had a guitar repair shop in Bakersfield, California (he was an expert on refinishing, he added the famo...
Chuck Jacobs played bass in Kenny Rogers’ band for more than 40 years and enjoyed every minute of it. His roots in music go back to the Dixieland group his family formed while he was too ...
Mickey Raphael grew up with a passion for music and was recruited to play sousaphone and tuba in his high-school marching band. While this was his excuse to get out of gym class, Mickey r...
Travis Christopherson’s roots in music can be traced back to when his grandfather played country music records for him as a child. As he learned to play the guitar, Travis saw his passion...
Uwe Kruger grew up singing old German folks songs with family in Switzerland. Picking up the guitar at eight years old, he later played with his brother, Jens, on street corners. His love...
Roger McGuinn got a transistor radio from his parents as a young kid and was never the same after hearing Elvis Presley. He instantly picked up the guitar and it changed his life forever....
Andy Leftwich began playing the fiddle at the age of six when his dad bought one from a local pawn shop. Andy grew up knowing he could always express himself though music and by the age o...
Rusty Richards would like to point out the distinction between Singing Cowboys and Cowboys that sing. He was very much a cowboy, having roped, rode in the rodeo and worked as a ranch hand...
