Richard Meredith had a great admiration for Jack Goldman whose grandfather established the family retail and pawn business in Evansville, Indiana, in 1899. Richard is a local musician who...
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...
Chad Huval puts a whole lot of Creole heritage into his playing. Born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, he received his first accordion from his father as a child. As he grew and developed his...
David Doucet recalls the day his older brother, Michael, left for school. David dashed to pick up Michael’s guitars and taught himself to play. His passion grew the more he listened to ar...
Will Braham’s father gave him a guitar when he was in eighth grade. It is then, as Will puts it, that his career began. He played all throughout school developing his skills and his drive...
Perry Smith was already playing the guitar when he walked into a small music store in San Rafael, California, and heard someone playing jazz. That one moment changed his musical path and ...
Brian Donaldson is an exuberant cheerleader for NAMM’s Museum of Making Music, where he volunteers as a docent. He joined the team in 2016 and can often be found leading tours, jamming wi...
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...
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...
Ed Tomlinson is the CEO of California Keyboards Music Center in Bakersfield and a well-regarded piano technician and trainer. After touring the world as part of a Contemporary Christian g...
Yvonne Fimbres recalls with a smile the lullabies her mother sang to her as a baby. Music has always played an important role in her life. As she developed her own vocal skills, Yvonne wa...
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...
Bogdan Pawlikowski grew up in a family of violin luthiers. His uncle John and father Walter both achieved notoriety for their handed crafted instruments as well as their well-respected re...
Tim Bales is a hard-swinging brass player and long-time member of the band the Ides of March. His playing career began in the first grade when he was just six years old playing the cornet...
Rebecca Jasso was just ten when she began playing guitar, and right from the start making up songs came naturally to her. She developed both skills over the years, learning classical guit...
Chris Walz remembers the moment he first heard blues legend Mississippi John Hurt on the radio. Chris was captivated and immediately inspired to play old-time finger-picking guitar. At t...
John Benedeck sat down at the keyboard during his NAMM interview to demonstrate the riffs and clever tunes he plays as an organist for the Chicago Cubs baseball team! He is proud to have ...
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...
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...
Lenny LeBlanc and his friend Peter Carr formed a band together in 1975. LeBlanc & Carr, as they were known, had a big hit with the song “Falling” in 1977, which Lenny co-wrote with Ed...
Thomas Claxton has had some meaningful vocal coaches over the years who have inspired him and taught him important tips, such as how to protect his voice. Lauren Ringwald was his vocal te...
Debra Kolacny began playing the organ at the age of eight, not knowing a life of music was ahead of her. She joined her junior high school band as a percussionist and in high school focus...
Marlene Hutchinson has come up with several clever ways to encourage people to become music makers. With an emphasis on fun and ease, she had such success with her own guitar students tha...
Robb Lawrence loves playing the guitar as well as gathering the history of his instruments. He has written books and articles for magazines, including Guitar Player and has provided lectu...
Larry Redhouse grew up in a house with six siblings who were all, like their mother, very musical. The family formed a musical act, the Redhouse Band, in the late 60s. The band played a l...
Salani, whose African name is Wamkanganise Nagaadza, feels very strongly about the role musical instruments play in honoring our ancestors. The Mbira, which he builds and plays speaks to...
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...
Jerry Miller is a founding member of the innovative and influential ‘60s rock band Moby Grape. His roots in music go back to his grandfather, who was a famous violin maker in Sweden. When...
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...
Robert Yates is known as Uncle Uke for a very good reason - he plays, builds, and sells ukuleles. Robert opened his own store, HUG Ukulele, on the big island of Hawaii with his wife Patri...
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...
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...
