Leo Henrichs and his friend Raughi Ebert formed the group Tierra Negra to combine their love of flamenco and their passion for rhythms to create a fresh feeling to guitar music. They have...
Ed Hamrick enjoyed playing the drums ever since he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. From that moment on, he played drums and in the early 1970s established his own drum sh...
Ray Guntren is the president of Midbell Music in Iowa, a retail store he first began working at when he was a teenager. Over the years the chance came up for Ray to purchase the store, w...
Mark Goff was ready to work for a musical instrument manufacturer after college when he was told that he needed retail experience. Impressed with the idea and eager to learn all he could ...
Joe Glaser has always enjoyed taking a damaged guitar and repairing it to bring it back to playing condition. His passion for the craftsmanship of guitar repairs has made him one of the s...
Richard Fruhauf is the vice president of the company his grandfather established in Wichita, Kansas in 1910. Fruhauf Uniforms has become one of the long time suppliers of marching band u...
Kenny Fruhauf recalls with a smile the years he spent working with his grandfather, Lou, the founder of Fruhauf Uniforms in Wichita, Kansas. Lou built the business on creative designs, c...
Elaine Frizzell was an artist endorser for the Mosrite Guitar Company back in the 1960s. Over the years she became close friends with the company’s founders, Semi and Andy Mosley. She wit...
Ren Ferguson is among the most noted master luthiers in the United States and has been since the 1970s. Many luthiers who wish to follow his style of building have studied his approach to...
G. Frank Emerson is a piano designer whose roots are firmly based in piano technician training and experiences he was involved with in the early part of his career. He became a well respe...
Raughi Ebert along with Leo Henrichs had dreams of combining their love of flamenco-style guitar playing to form a duet and perform together. This dream became a reality in 1994 when they...
Karen Cuneo-Ramirez played piano since she was a girl and as she grew up, she began to teach piano. She was hired by Sherman Clay in Stockton, California, to teach piano after buying an o...
Hal Cowan studied business administration while playing music all through school. He loved playing organ and found himself in the company of fellow organ buffs as well as employees of org...
Jimmy Capps backed nearly every performer at the Grand Ole Opry as a house band guitarist since 1960! The list of artists he played with is nothing more than amazing and represents the gr...
Joe Calzone grew up playing drums. His passion for the instrument lead to his involvement with several bands and memorial concert performances before having the idea of creating his own ...
Wally Brooks grew up in the piano business. His father was a piano technician and Wally followed in his footsteps. Wally was 16 years old when he joined the Piano Technicians Guild in 195...
Ed Blasco was one of the best known organ salesmen in Kansas City during the 1970s. He worked for Sherman Clay, Jenkins Music and even ran his own store, Ed Blasco’s Conn Organ Center in ...
Allen Blasco began to smile during his NAMM Oral History interview when he spoke about how his mother and father met at Jenkins Music in Kansas City. His father was in charge of the music...
Glenn Axelton managed a few stores for the famed Jenkins Music Company in and around Kansas City before opening his own store in Manhattan, Kansas. Glenn’s Music soon became a music cente...
Craig Smith began piano lessons at the age seven and by the time he was twelve, was fascinated with the sounds of the home organ. He started demonstrating organs for Karnes Music at thirt...
Arturo Sandoval is the Cuba born jazz trumpeter best known for the 2000 film “For Love of Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story” in which Andy Garcia portrayed Arturo. Over the years he has ...
Joyce Pinnell-Martin served as president of the famed print dealer Wingert-Jones Music in Kansas City. The store opened in 1960 and just two years later Joyce was hired as the book keeper...
Jacquelyn Dillon-Krass was a pioneering woman in the music products industry. As a music educator she first connected with the industry when hired by Scherl & Roth in 1970 to head up ...
Greg Billings is the retired president of the Steinway Piano Gallery of Naples in Florida. Greg is also a very active member of the music products industry, appearing on panel discussions...
Kurt Listug and his friend Bob Taylor bought the small guitar shop they were working in and renamed it Taylor Guitars. Together they built one of the fastest growing companies in the musi...
Dex Johnson grew up in the music retail business. His mother and father formed their store, Mississippi Music, after World War II and his father became an industry leader, even serving as...
Rosi Johnson was hired by the founder of Mississippi Music and her future father in law, Jimmy Johnson, as the in-house accountant. She took over the financial end of the entire business...
JW Jenkins was president of the large music store chain in and around Kansas City that his great grand father first opened in 1878. His father, Paul W. Jenkins, kept the company running d...
Johnny Clark was a sales rep for the Slingerland Drum Company for nearly his entire career. He began working for the company when the founder’s son, Bud, was president and served under ev...
Larry Biernacki opened the first of three music stores in Deerfield, Illinois. Like with all three locations, he named it after the local community to provide a neighborhood feel to each ...