Silvertone Instruments

Michael Campion has attended the NAMM Show since the late 1970s, first as a wide-eyed musician, then as a retailer and finally as an exhibitor. Tracing his evolving roles at the show mirrors his fascinating career in the music industry. Playing in garage bands led to his involvement with songwriting and composing jingles, which led to working in a music store. Michael formed a team that opened LAB Sound (Home of Tone was their slogan), which branched out into three retail locations in Southern California. The store’s focus was rack systems for heavy metal bands in the 1980s.

Ricky Harrison is an eclectic guitar luthier and the founder of RH Custom Guitars, located in Southern California. His love and respect for the guitar goes all the way back to his childhood and a Sears Silver Tone with an amplifier built right in the case. He formed a band with his friends in 1968 called The Persuasions, which toured around the East Coast. By then, Ricky was a devoted Gretsch player and after the band broke up could be found at coffee houses backing up singers. He later formed a trio called Absent Minds, a nod to getting older! His day job was carpentry so when he

Raphael Semmes (pronounced Raf-yul) has fond memories of his mother singing as he was growing up. The feeling of her music became an inspiration for him and when he was given a Silvertone guitar, and he soon discovered that he could express himself with music as well. Switching to bass, Raphael performed with blues and jazz artists such as John Lee Hooker, Vasti Jackson, Milt Hinton, Mose Allison, Katie Webster and Jewel Bass. Among his touring highlights were playing behind the Iron Curtain and for Tiny Tim (after all, who wouldn’t take the opportunity to play with Tiny Tim!).

Joe Spann joined the Gruhn Guitars crew in Nashville, TN to assist in writing appraisals. Appraising musical instruments is an important part of the retail store's business, and has been increasing ever since George Gruhn opened the store in 1970. Joe’s passion and growing expertise for the Gibson Guitar company led him to write a book on the subject. His book, Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902-1941, was published by Centerstream in 2011 and covers the background of the company, it’s founder and a listing of their instruments with serial numbers.

Billy Stoops has always been a Fender Telecaster player! He pursued his musical career while having a day job for years hanging wallpaper. Billy took a leap of faith by quitting his day job to focus on music back in 2003, and has never looked back. Billy has played and recorded with several groups including Junkyard Jane and has written dozens of songs, some of which have been recorded by other performers. Just a few weeks before his NAMM Oral History interview, Billy was hospitalized when his house caught on fire. The harrowing experience forced Billy to jump to safety from a sec