John Thompson Method Books

Ed Cranley was surrounded by his devoted family when he was interviewed in July 2005. He spoke with pride of his role in expanding the Willis Music Company and the fact that his son now runs the business. He also told of his impressive career as a baseball pitcher, but perhaps took the greatest pride in speaking of the growth of the music-publishing segment of the business, which included a long partnership with Edna Mae Burnam who wrote several successful method books for Willis Music.  His passion of the music business was clear in each story that he told. 

Kevin Cranley grew up in the music industry and has a passion for all elements of the music business as if it were in his blood.  As a young man, he completed odd jobs around the Willis Music store and helped his father with the publishing side of the business.  Years later Kevin took over the business and became very active within industry organizations such as RPMDA and NAMM.  He served on the NAMM Board of Directors as well as on the Executive Committee before becoming NAMM Chairman in 2011.  Kevin has also been a strong and long-time supporter of the NAMM Oral History program,

Janet Gratsch began working at Willis Music when she was 17 years old in the Choral Department.  She remained with the store until she retired and even after her retirement she would be called by the staff and hummed a song for her to name, and she would.  Janet was hired in 1940 and recalled with delight during her interview of meeting Mr.

Dan Herbert played trumpet as a kid and later switched to drums to form a rock band in the days following the Beatle’s popularity in the early 1960s.  During the summers, he would work part time for the local music store, Willis Music.  Dan remained a professional musician for several decades before landing a full time job at Willis Music.  As Dan would say with a smile, he went from playing full time and working part time at Willis to working for Willis full time and playing music part time. 

Colleen Merman was just eleven years old when she began helping her grandfather, Ed Cranley — then president of Willis Music — by hand-stitching music method books, likely including classics by John Thompson and Edna Mae Burnam. From an early age, Colleen was immersed in the family business, gaining hands-on experience in nearly every aspect of the operation and learning from both family members and loyal, long-term employees. Her well-rounded education included time in retail, particularly at the Florence, Kentucky location, where she developed a deep appreciation for customer se