Michael Feisthammel is a lifelong history teacher who has a passion for the construction and design of pianos. He acquired a Chicago-made Conover '77 grand almost 20 years ago. The high q...
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...
Steve Propes has been a longtime supporter of the NAMM Oral History program and sat down with us to discuss his views on the development of R&B, doo wop and rock and roll. As a long t...
Will Friedwald is an author and music historian who has the skills and knowledge to write about everything from the Blues to the roots of Rock and Roll. The era in between seems to be his...
Dennis Spragg is a music historian and author who has become an expert on the bandleader Glenn Miller. He is the senior consultant for the Glenn Miller Archives and the American Music Res...
Lew Shaw grew up admiring musicians he heard on the radio or saw in concert and wanted to do all he could to promote their music and tell their stories. He was a journalist and advertisin...
Bob Calhoun grew up in the Bay Area and discovered his love for music after listening to some of his family’s record collection. He decided to pick up the bass and bought his first one at...
Michael Feinstein is a student of the American Songbook as well as its cheerleader and Pied Piper! Throughout his career he has specialized in promoting the songs and songwriters from the...
Tony Bolland was just 16 when he got a job at Plug In, a rock shop in Liverpool. The store was part of Hessy’s Music, the famous store which sold instruments to the Beatles in the early p...
Don Cusic recalls that in 1964 he was greatly influenced by three musical discoveries: Roger Miller, Hank Williams, and The Beatles! After forming his own band and playing Bluegrass music...
Orval Engling has become an expert on the Ibanez guitar brand, so much so that he helped write a book on the company’s history. Orval began collecting Ibanez guitars in the 1990s and has ...
Orinta Budnikaitė is a Lithuanian musicologist and current general manager of Natų knygynas, the only one sheet music store in Lithuania. Working together with the Lithuanian Government, ...
Dan Del Fiorentino is the Music Historian for NAMM who heads the industry's Oral History program. Dan began this special project in March 2000, after having served as the first curator of...
Denny Tedesco archived his father’s career as a noted studio musician in Los Angeles in the award winning documentary, The Wrecking Crew. Tommy Tedesco, along with other top rated studio ...
Bill Gardner grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by music. His mother worked at a local record store where he heard the music that would forever shape his life. Years later, Bill went on th...
Sharon De Lorto truly discovered her passion for music upon marrying her husband, Greg, and was introduced to the culture behind Heritage Guitars, Gibson, and the iconic factory at 225 Pa...
Jim Merod is the founder of BluePort Sound recording studio and BluePort Jazz, his record label. Since the early 1990s, Jim has recorded a long list of legendary jazz, blues, and latin mu...
Ivor Davis was working as the foreign correspondent for the London Daily Express when he was assigned to travel with the Beatles. He joined the Fab Four during the summer of 1964 in San F...
Kevin Mitchell wrote the MMR cover story in 2009 dedicated to the NAMM Oral History program and has been a strong advocate and supporter ever since! His background in music (he played the...
Bob Carlin got interested in rock and roll when he was just 12 years old. As a kid, he would go into Manny’s Music in New York just to see the guitars and how the industry operated. Later...
Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter ...
Brad Boynton is the founder of Rhythm Traders Drum Shop in Portland, Oregon. He saw his passion for the drums develop as early as four years old and it has always been a source of true h...
Yale Strom started on the violin when he was eight years old. He took lessons at school, and played in the school orchestra first in his hometown of Detroit, MI, but later on in San Diego...
Douglas Woodfull-Harris started his career as a studio musician in San Franscisco. During his studies of classical composition and musicology in Los Angeles he met his wife Petra. They bo...
Douglas Woodfull-Harris started his career as a studio musician in San Francisco. During his studies of classical composition and musicology in Los Angeles he met his wife Petra. They bot...
Michael Simmons is a co-founder of the Fretboard Journal and the author of several articles and books about vintage guitars and other fretted instruments. He began his career at Gryphon G...
John Tumpak is the author and music historian who has focused most of his writings on the golden age of swing during the Big Band Era of the 1930-40s. As a result, John has interviewed a...
Martin Marris and his wife run Note Craft, a music engraving company that has played a vital role in the access of musical works of every type. Working for publishing companies, Note Cra...
Tom Van Hoose has become an expert on the Gibson 400 Series guitars and in fact even wrote the book on the subject. As a collector, Tom found himself surrounded by used guitars and decide...
Johnny Eberle was passionate about sound recordings ever since he was a small child. Developing a love of audio engineering and it’s rich history, John became an expert and a well known ...
Kazuhiko Shima is the director of the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum, which opened to the public in 1995. He was hired the year before to help assemble the instruments and create th...
Brad Smith is the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager for Hal Leonard. During his career as a writer and industry historian, he worked for MIX Magazine before joining the Hal Leonard team...
