Country Music
Robert Riedel sat down for his NAMM Oral History interview in January 2018 and spoke in depth about the steel guitar. As a steel guitar musician, Robert was influenced by the giants of the instrument including Speedy West, Jody Carver, Alvino Rey, and Buddy Emmons. Throughout his interview, Robert...
Gary Baker watched the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show along with his brother. The two became so engrossed by music that his brother bought Gary a Silver Tone Guitar from Sears. They formed a band together and Gary soon discovered he enjoyed writing songs. As a songwriter, Gary has written...
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turning his skills as a luthier. Country stars John Anderson and Marty Stuart are among those Marty has built and...
Wayne Moss is the Nashville studio musician who, in 1961, built the Cinderella Recording Studios. Since that time several top recordings were captured in the studio including those by artists Chet Atkins, Barefoot Jerry, Area Code 615, Mickey Newberry, and Jerry Reed. As a session player, Wayne is...
Charley Pride was born one of 11 children in Sledge, Mississippi. Although he enjoyed music as child and learned to pick out songs on guitar by ear, Charley had a desire to be a professional baseball player. Charley played for the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro American League and was shopped around...
Bobby Bare Sr. began writing songs as a teenager and landed a hit record with the talking blues song "All American Boy" in 1958 when Bobby was just 18 years old. He followed that recording with several other hits including "Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home." During his NAMM interview,...
Crystal Gayle had a string of hit country songs in the 1970s including her big number one crossover pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blues." The recording provided Crystal the opportunity to record in many of the top studios in Nashville as well as several noted television appearances. During...
Roy Head was born a sharecropper's son in the tiny town of Three Rivers, Texas. Growing up listening to every style of music available on his small radio, Roy became heavily influenced by early Rhythm & Blues musicians. While still in high school Roy and five buddies formed the band The Traits...
Charlie Feldman was inspired to play the guitar thanks to this father. While a teenager, Charlie formed several bands and over the years played with such great named bands as The Bassmen (named after the amp) and The Candy Store Profits. In the late 1960s, he went up to the recording studios in...
Ronny Cox is the actor who played the guitar in the famous Dueling Banjo scene during the 1972 movie Deliverance. That movie moment led to a big boom in banjo and acoustic guitar (and canoe) sales around the world. It was also Ronny's first film role. Throughout his acting career he almost always...