Benjamin Dudley is the executive director of the non-profit organization Free Guitars 4 Kids. Growing up with a passion for music and the guitar, Benjamin sang and played in his church an...
Teddy Gordon owns the guitar-focused make’n music stores in the Chicago area. His own journey in music has been an interesting one, beginning with his mother who was a singing clown. Musi...
Jordan Gruver grew up singing in her church choir and in a youth band. While in junior high and high school she sang and played in musical theater productions. In college, she studied sup...
Peanutt Montgomery grew up in Texas and took to playing the guitar at an early age. He formed a band that played for troops at military bases in the area and formed a trio with future act...
Jim Greenhill opened Jim’s Music store in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The area was brimming with recording activity in 1977 when Jim opened the store and as a result, most of the studio sessi...
Javier Batiz is very proud of the role he played in bringing American Blues music to Mexico! His own playing in bands and as a solo artist brought a great awareness to the Blues south of ...
Jono Manson is the owner of The Kitchen Sink Recording Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a record producer and engineer, he has collaborated on projects ranging from national advertising...
James Tsaptsinos recalls the Muppet themed drum kit his uncle purchased for him when he was just five years old. He was surrounded by music during his childhood and in high school formed ...
Scott Lombardo worked in the music products industry since he was fourteen years old! His passion quickly developed after hearing The Beatles three years earlier. He would drill holes and...
Jimmie Vaughan took time from his 2020 tour schedule for his NAMM Oral History interview during which he spoke about his early days as a musician. Jimmie recounted his Uncles playing musi...
Ken King performed in several Country and Western bands in and around Los Angeles beginning in the 1940s. While playing his guitar as a guest on the Spade Cooley television show in late 1...
Will Woo started playing in rock groups at an early age as did his brother, Allan. Allan and Will played in the band, Hamster Farm and in 1980, Will joined the UK chart topping synth band...
Hank Marvin and his buddy, Bruce Welch, formed the instrumental rock band The Shadows in 1958 in England. The highly influential group pioneered the four-member rock band format consistin...
Johnny Smith played drums professionally with the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt, among others, before a group of investors approached him to help create the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Joh...
Tim Shaw is the Chief Engineer-Guitars for Fender Musical Instruments, helping the company create guitars, pickups and other products. Tim’s career began when Charlie Wicks hired him to r...
Nate Watts grew up in Detroit, Michigan when Motown was in full swing, and it proved to be a major inspiration for the bass legend. In 1974 Nate was summoned by Stevie Wonder to join his ...
Bob Glaub is a respected American bass player and session musician who has performed with an incredible amount of high profile artists including; Journey, Steve Miller Band, John Fogerty,...
Roxie Hyatt was married to one of Leo Fender’s early sales representatives, Harold Hyatt. Harold first worked for his brother, Dale, who Leo hired in the late 1940s. After working for Dal...
Don Wilson was a founding member of the instrumental rock band, The Ventures! He formed the band with his friend Bob Bogle. Shortly after their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” Nokie Edwards,...
Trevor Rabin was raised in a musical household, with a father who was a musician and he encouraged Trevor to play the piano at an early age. Later, his father gave him a guitar as a gift ...
Richard McDonald has always been driven and inspired by music. Both his father and brother played upright bass and for as long as he can remember, Richard has always been drawn to making ...
Nick Bowcott is a founding member of the British heavy metal band, Grim Reaper. Nick put the band together in 1979 and by 1985 had gained commercial success namely due to Nick’s guitar sk...
Curtis White was 11 years old when his father, Forrest White, resigned from Fender Guitar Company. Curtis remembers being devastated and wondering what the family would do since Fender wa...
Charlie Argall picked up a guitar and wanted to join a band the moment he heard the Beatles. He took lessons where he was introduced to his local music store, a place he found fascinating...
Rebecca Brill-Argall and her husband, Charlie, worked hard to build their customer base of dealers throughout Canada. Their distribution company provided musical instruments and accessori...
John Jorgenson is best known as a guitarist, although he also plays and records with a number of musical instruments. While performing in the bands The Hellecasters and the Desert Rose Ba...
David O'Loughlin joined his mother in the wholesale company his father had formed to import Fender guitars into Australia. He grew up in the business and recalls with a smile his college ...
Margaret O'Loughlin was inducted into the Australian Music Association's Honor Roll in 2017 for her dedication to the music industry. After her husband, Peter, had taken ill and passed aw...
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...
Susan Carson opened her first music store, Taylor Guitar Shop, at just 18 years old in Johnson, Tennessee. Taylor Guitar Shop became the local hangout spot for bluegrass pickers and those...
Brad Townsend always had a love for music and remembers growing up with music all around him. He opened a retail music store/lesson studio and also had an extensive career at Fender Music...
Rob Joly was playing in a surf band in 1966 when Leo Fender hired him to work at a teenage fair. The fair attracted young students and Leo felt the event would be great to introduce his n...
