Julia Huff joined the Museum of Making Music volunteer program in 2018, focusing much of her time in the museum’s gift shop. She enjoys working with her fellow volunteers, the staff and i...
Phee Sherline brought her passion for music to NAMM’s Museum of Making Music a docent and gallery attendant. She was a young adult when the Folk Music boom occurred during the 1960s and 7...
Bob Bennett has written songs sung by congregations around the world for decades. His life in music all began when his older brother taught him a few chords on the guitar when he was ten ...
Tracy Newman Tracy Newman jumped into the Folk music scene in the early 1960s just as the genre was making its sweep across the country. She was among the early members of the New Christy...
Judy Collins is perhaps best known for her string of hit recordings in the late 1960s and 70s such as “Both Sides, Now,” “Amazing Grace,” and “Send in the Clowns.” However, did you know J...
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...
Mark Casstevens has always had a deep passion for music. He sang in church choirs and began piano lessons at age six, eventually teaching himself guitar. In high school in Ft. Worth, TX, ...
Norman Greenbaum wrote the 1960s classic rock hit “Spirit in the Sky” with a hard drive introduction featuring his Fuzz-Tone and electric guitar. The song is considered a standard rock an...
Saul Rosenthal has been driven by two ideals, equal rights for all people and supporting music and music makers whenever possible! After earning his Ph.D., Saul taught sociology at the co...
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...
Dick Weissman played an important role in the resurgence of the popularity of Folk Music in the 1950s and’60s. As a songwriter, producer and musician, Dick’s handy work can be heard and f...
Hedges Capers rose to fame in the late 1960s as half of the folk rock duo Hedges & Donns. He and his singing partner, Donna Carson (who was later his wife for several years) began sin...
Del Rey lives and breathes musical passion! Since she was a child she had the skills and desire to communicate through music and soon realized her playing brought happiness to others. The...
David Lindley grew up close to the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California, where he was exposed to stringed instruments from around the world. He also worked for Berry Grassmuek Music...
Henry Barnes is a wonderful example of the type of luthier and repair technician you want working on your musical instruments. With a background in building guitars for Charvel, Grover Ja...
David Brock is a gifted violin and banjo teacher who provides private lessons at the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California. His long association with the musical instrument store goe...
David Millard was a teenager when he first walked into Folk Music Center, his local musical instrument store in Claremont, California. The now iconic retailer was a true mom-and-pop opera...
Ellen Harper Verdries grew up in a music store! Her parents, Dorothy and Charles Chase, formed their first store in Massachusetts before moving to Southern California in 1958. The Folk Mu...
Sylvia Tyson wrote songs that a generation sang, and she also recorded songs by other songwriters which helped define the Folk Music revival of the 1960s. In 1962 she wrote “You Were On M...
Denny Coiro spent over 40 years of his career in the piano industry. As a salesman, Denny worked for several stores over the years and had some wonderful experiences bringing a new instru...
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...
Jerre Haskew was right in the thick of the folk music boom of the early 1960s. He was a founding member of the Cumberland Trio, which recorded with Chet Atkins at RCA Nashville and toured...
Sherry Klein grew up outside of New York City during the height of the folk scene. She loved to go to Greenwich Village and has amazing stories of meeting Joni Mitchell and going to Woods...
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....
Larry Wexer was the first member of his family to be born in America and was always encouraged to learn music by his grandparents. After growing up during the folk movement in New York, h...
George Hergen grew up during the folk boom in New York of the mid 1960s and fell in love with the luthiers of guitars and banjos as well as some of the colorful dealers in his area. He be...
Joe Chambers was inspired by his older brother George to play guitar and write songs. The brothers, Joe, George, Willie and Lester, formed The Chambers Brothers and began singing gospel m...
Willie Chambers and his brothers fell in love with gospel music while growing up singing in church. Even though they received some strong criticism, they expanded the places where church ...
Jodi Siegel grew up in a musical family and developed a passion for music at a young age. Jodi started playing the ukulele because of its size but quickly moved onto the guitar. A big inf...
Chuck Neitzel joined Deering Banjo in January 1979 having previously been a woodworker with antique furniture. Chuck also brought with him a deep respect and passion for bluegrass music, ...
Pete McClelland teamed up with his wife to open a folk instrument music store in London in 1975. The idea was new and it was unclear if they would be successful, but they dedicated themse...
Harry Bickel has been passionate about the folk songs and bluegrass music of Kentucky since he was a kid. While in college, he took banjo lessons from J.D. Crowe and learned how to repair...
