Georgia

Emile Baran began a music retail business that led to the opportunity for expanding into the music wholesale business. Emile formed DeKalb Music Supply, a music retail store in Decatur, Georgia in 1958. Several years later he expanded into the wholesale business, thanks in large part to his understanding of the school music market. Upon the milestone of his 50th year in business, Emile was presented with an award from NAMM and exclaimed, “That was easy. Let’s go for another 50 years!” 

David Cooper recalled, with a warm smile, when his father took him to his first NAMM Show. The Cooper Piano and Organ Store in Georgia began in 1905; therefore, David did not just grow up in the business--his life was always involved in music. The store enjoyed great success over the years due to what David called ‘the willingness to take a chance on what the customer wanted.” It was not always easy to predict the trends and stay on top of them, but his family, which includes his son who now runs the company, has a great track record. David was also a strong supporter of the NAMM

Blake Cooper is proud of his family’s piano business, which was established by his great-grandfather in 1906. While young in his career, Blake worked for the Fletcher Music Center and Wurlitzer to gain additional experience within the industry before returning to the family business. Blake took over the company in 1992 and over the years brought on several brands including Young Chang, Baldwin and Roland. Blake has developed his own inbound marketing strategy, which is designed to generate a database of emails to connect with his customers.

Don Eubanks made a lot of friends in the music business! His honesty and humor endeared him to many over the years, but perhaps what set Don apart from others was his willingness to try something new. When he had the chance to buy the Symmes Music Store in Chamblee, Georgia, he decided to try something new. When the industry was in need of an organization that could bring music print retailers together with publishers, he decided to try something new. And whenever Don had the chance to mentor others interested in the business he did all he could to help, which was nothing new, but

Ed Hamrick enjoyed playing the drums ever since he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. From that moment on, he played drums and in the early 1970s established his own drum shop outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Over the years the Atlanta Pro Percussion Shop has become one of the strongest dealers in the industry, providing top name clinics and introducing decade’s worth of new and innovative percussive products. Ed was an active member of PAS and NAMM and as well as sponsoring several local music events over the years. Ed passed in March 2022 and is deeply missed.

Frank Kilgard worked for Streep Music in Florida before opening his own band instrument repair shop in Georgia.  His strong interest in quality repair led to a life time of learning new tricks and methods for cleaning and repairing school band instruments.  Frank was one of the first members of NAPBIRT and has since been a strong supporter of the organization, which seeks to provide training and top products for repair technicians.  Since Frank worked for years with NAMM Past President Bud Streep, we were able to ask him about Bud’s many contributions to the industry.

George Luther was a legendary music retailer!  His reputation preceded him far beyond the South, where he forged a successful and colorful career. His business savvy was in large part from thinking "outside the box". Over many years of fostering a fun working environment and mentoring many employees, his success and legacy is evident by the multitude of former mentored employees who have gone on to their own successful careers in the music products industry.

Lindsay Petsch happily grew up in the guitar store his parents established in Atlanta, Georgia. He has many memories of sweeping up the store and helping unload boxes as a kid. He played piano and sang during his childhood and gravitated towards the electric guitar. The classical guitar-themed store over time expanded its inventory to include electric guitars and amplifiers. Lately, Lindsay has enjoyed learning classical guitar, finger-style playing and songwriting.     

George Petsch and his wife Claire met while giving music lessons at Sutherland’s House of Guitars in Atlanta during the 1970s. The young couple decided to open their own music studio, which led to a music store in 1981, right on Maple Street. They focused on providing lessons, as that was their true passion. Over the years a student would need strings or even a new instrument, which led to the growth of the store. After their son entered the business the store expanded their offerings to include electric guitars. George feels a big part of the store’s success is the care he and hi

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, but to expand it over the years.  The small shop, which his father, Ben Portman, began in 1936, became the foundation for Portman’s Music Superstores.  Ben began selling guitars, accessories and used instruments in the early years but soon expanded into band and orchestra instruments.  When innovations such as the electric guitar were introduced, Portman’s was one of the first to offer the instrum

Bonnie G. Rowe did not seem to mind much when people thought he was a woman because his given name was Bonnie. For 87 years he corrected people and never gave much thought to using his middle name of Gordon. “Mother and father wanted me to be known as Bonnie, so that is it” he once said. “All I knew was music and that is all I ever wanted to do” he recalled in his NAMM Oral History interview. He opened the Rowe’s Music retail shop, a publishing company, which offered a number of his own songs, and a school created to teach large classes of accordion students.

Jane Stanton worked for the war effort during World War II, which was before she met Ken Stanton, who was a band director, wishing to open a music store. Jane played a vital role in the store over the years as she ran the business while Ken would travel and sat up front to ensure she greeted each customer, rep and visitor. Jane became active within NAMM and served on the Board of Directors for NASMD in the 1970s. Her son Kenny now runs the company, which has several locations in the Southern part of the United States.