Gail O'Brien Stewart grew up in a family that greatly appreciated music and as a child she often attended live concerts. In elementary school she went to a young people’s concert where se...
Samantha Tranchida is very proud of her role at Quinlan and Fabish Music in the Chicago area as she assists young students in discovering the instrument they will play in school. The expe...
Jessica Ferrari is the Regional Manager for six of the Menchey Music store locations, a position she greatly enjoys. While working with many of the details of running the stores, Jessica ...
Erin Kessler began playing French Horn in school and had a close relationship with her grandmother, who encouraged and inspired her to keep music in her life. Erin’s grandparents establis...
Jordan Gruver grew up singing in her church choir and in a youth band. While in junior high and high school she sang and played in musical theater productions. In college, she studied sup...
Stacey Swanson was in high school when her band director changed her life by suggesting she switch from the flute to the bassoon. The complexity of the instrument allowed Stacey to carefu...
Kayla Davis was in grade school when a high school band performed for her class. The group played the theme from Star Wars and Kayla took a special interest in watching and listening to t...
Katie Helgeson remembers the day in the fourth grade when a local music store brought instruments to her school to try out. She asked the instructor which was the hardest to learn and so ...
Kristin Masarik loves the moment when a young student comes into Heid Music with their parents to pick up an instrument for their school's band program. They are bewildered and nervous, y...
Natalie Morrison grew up in a very musical family, both of her parents were percussionists and her brother played saxophone. She was never pushed into music, but it was important to her p...
Cathy English grew up in a very musical family and began playing piano at the age of three. Both of her parents played as did Cathy and her brother. Their father arranged for the entire f...
Amanda Rueter is the Vice President of Ernie Williamson Music, which has four retail locations. The company was established in 1935 and purchased by Springfield Music in 2002. The company...
Tonya Adams played piano beginning at the age of six, switching to the flute in the fifth grade and realizing music was going to be a key part of her life. She finished her degree in musi...
Morgan Walker worked in the marketing side of the sports industry before being hired by Korg USA, in 2014, to focus on public relations and managing special events. She grew in her positi...
Dr. Jennifer Hall was approached by Crystal Morris to assist a small team of women, then known as the Smart Women in Music (SWIM) founders, who were inspired and motivated to form a leade...
Lisa MacDonald is the Director of Vertical Marketing for Yamaha, focused on serving the needs of key customer groups, especially music educators and houses of worship. She played violin i...
Joy Hood Weaver is widely known for her 1977 gospel album Jesus Is The Cornerstone, which served as an influence for Contemporary Christian artists who followed. The album, recorded at Le...
Donna Ulisse has fond memories of her grandmother teaching her to sing at a young age. And that is all Donna wanted to do! As her career developed, she was encouraged by many in the music...
Melissa Foster loves talking about the Bluegrass group her family formed, beginning when she was just a child. The Foster Family String Band toured all over the United States, mostly on w...
Stephanie Brown taught high school English in the Muscle Shoals area of Northern Alabama. Future music publisher and advocate for this oral history program, Kevin Lamb, was among her 10th...
Ann Foster is the matriarch of the Foster Family String Band and a guitar player in this Bluegrass group. Her husband Bill and his brother sang as a duet growing up so it was natural for ...
Suzanne Bolton began working for the famous Muscle Shoals Sound recording studio in 1985. The studio had recently been acquired by Malaco Records out of Jackson, Mississippi, which was th...
Marie Lewey is a noted backup singer based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she worked in all of the local recording studios as well as many in Nashville. Teaming with her dear friends Ci...
Lisa Silver likes to joke that in country bands she plays the fiddle, and in classical music performances she plays the violin. Yet she is talking about her one instrument! Her father was...
Cindy Richardson-Walker sang backup on hundreds of recordings and sang in live shows with the likes of Garth Brooks, George Jones, Shania Twain, Alabama, and many others. Her understandin...
Charlene Montgomery wrote several songs with her husband, Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery, including dozens recorded by country legend George Jones. A song the couple wrote together along with ...
Sonja Lynne grew up in her mother’s music studio and found her voice as a singer. Sonja studied opera and can still be heard singing in her church. She had a few jobs, including as a scho...
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...
Sondra Blanchard comes to music through theatre. She has worked in regional theatre and internationally as an actor, coach, writer, and director. Over the past 10 years, she has specializ...
Tanya Ogsbury was often brought to her father's banjo workshop as a small child. She later spent summers in the Colorado mountains with her father as he designed new and innovative banjos...
Kris Kjeldgaard finished her degree with a music major and a minor in business and went job seeking. She was not sure what the direction of her career would take and in fact, looking back...
Joyce Meekins is a pioneering woman piano technician who has sought every opportunity she can find to encourage young women to join the profession. In 1975 she entered a four-year apprent...
