Trish Montgomery is the Accounts Manager for Amro Music, a 100-year-old music retail store in Memphis, Tennessee. She began working for Amro in 1990 when Chip Averwater, the grandson of t...
Nick Averwater is part of the fourth generation of the Averwater family to be working at Amro Music in Memphis, TN. Nick fondly remembers his time as a kid running around the store and wo...
Marjorie Jones and her husband opened the Bill Jones Music store in Knoxville, Tennessee back in 1973. She joined Bill full-time in 1989 after raising their children, and in 2011, Marjori...
Max Jones is the official greeter at Bill Jones Music in Knoxville. He does his best to meet each person as they enter the store and won’t mind if the customers take a moment to rub his b...
Leigh Maples played her ukulele as her sister sang when the two were small and remains an important memory for Leigh. She later played guitar in high school and went on to study music bu...
Pamela Cole played trombone in school and learned firsthand the importance of supportive people in the formative years of a young musician. After graduating from Belmont College in Nashvi...
C.J. Averwater recalls the story of his great grandfather, M.J. Averwater, a music teacher who decided to open a small store in Memphis called Amro Music. C.J. grew up in the business and...
Susan Carson opened her first music store, Taylor Guitar Shop, at just 18 years old in Johnson, Tennessee. Taylor Guitar Shop became the local hangout spot for bluegrass pickers and those...
Lynn Sheeley Jr.'s father opened a small piano store in east Tennessee in 1908. After serving in D-Day during World War II, Lynn returned home to work in the store, which he later took ov...
Christie Carter and her husband, Walter, are the proud owners of Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, which has a family friendly feeling by design! Christie wanted to help create a plac...
Bill Jones is the founder of Bill Jones Music in Knoxville Tennessee. The retailer started in 1973 with a focus on piano and organs, which was during the height of the organ boom. Over t...
Craig Yarbrough worked alongside his brother Tony and sister Phyllis (his younger sister joined them later) in running the music store they established in Memphis to serve the working mus...
Tony Yarbrough’s love of music led to buying a music store in Memphis that was closing and renaming it Yarbrough Music, which soon became a hub for musicians in and around town. He took ...
Wendel Stoltz was only a year old when his father, a big band musician, opened a music store in Memphis. The year was 1949. Wendel’s father, Colie, continued to perform at night for man...
Cliff Acred began playing music in junior high school and later majored in music in college. He played in the 3rd Army Band out of Atlanta while in the service and once out returned home...
Skip Buss played trumpet for several big bands on the road and in local hotel ballrooms during the great Swing Era of the 1940s. He decided to leave the road when his son was born at whi...
Jay Pilzer is the founder of New Hope Guitars and has been very active in the vintage guitar market for several decades. While earning his doctorate and teaching history, Jay became fasc...
Tut Taylor was a world renowned Dobro player, but did you know he partnered with George Gruhn and the two hired Randy Wood to form a music store in Nashville? Gruhn Guitars began as GTR,...
Charles Lawson played church organ from boyhood all the way into his 90s. He was hired by a small piano store when he first moved to Bristol, Tennessee, from Knoxville to be close to his ...
Lynn Clapp opened a small guitar shop in the back of a piano store in 1967. He later moved into his own building in Knoxville and called the place Lynn's Guitars. The store was a hot sp...
Don Bindrim is the owner of Tooters Music store in Cleveland, Tennessee. The store focuses on band and orchestra instruments with a strong focus on the local school band programs. Don’s...
William Warmoth and his wife Ellen opened a small guitar shop in Franklin, Tennessee, with the dream of providing acoustic guitars to music makers of all ages. Their small shop has grown...
WT Warmoth is currently an Industrial Design major at Savannah College of Art & Design and has dreams of becoming a guitar luthier. As the son of William and Ellen Warmoth, the found...
Ellen Warmoth and her husband, William, created a true “Mom and Pop” music store when they opened Artisan Guitars in Franklin, Tennessee, not far from Nashville. The store has a wonderfu...
Mike Ladd was one of the first music retailers in the United States to provide custom-made guitars. He had three locations in Memphis, the last of which was right across the street from G...
Roger Murrah has enjoyed an incredible career as a country music songwriter and with passion for the craft has dedicated his time and talent into creating a Nashville Songwriter Hall of F...
TK Keckler moved to Memphis at an early age and began playing with local bands, which is when he met Mike Ladd. Mike was a musician who opened a small guitar shop in town and would later ...
Gary Forkum had the idea of setting up a small percussion display in the back closet of Corner Music where he was working. The drum department grew so much that Corner Music owner Larry G...
Vernon Drane played several musical instruments growing up in Tennessee including the trumpet and saxophone. He later studied instrument repair and spent 68 years (!) working with the Amr...
Charles Lawing formed the Memphis music store Strings & Things in the 1970s and grew the business in size and product line along with his partner Chris Lovell. Charles enjoyed the ser...
Robert Averwater’s father, M. J. Averwater taught music, wrote a method book and opened up Amro Music in Memphis, TN, with a fellow music teacher. Robert recalled some of the challenges o...
Gordon Pfund spent his life in the music industry that he loved. At an early age he began working for Werlein For Music in Louisiana and became enamored with the piano and organ market. H...
