Deceased
Walther Veerkamp was the son of the founder of Casa Veerkamp, one of the most respected and oldest music retailers in Mexico. His father, who was born in Germany, opened a small music retail store in Mexico City in 1908. He struggled to provide instruments for the store even while exporting...
Elaine Taylor began working on the bench at Selmer in Elkhart in 1975, where she covered cases. Over the years she has worked in the cork and padding department for saxophones, also in the instrument cleaning department, in the office and then as a supervisor in the instrument accessory...
Spider Wilson began recording with Little Jimmy Dickens in 1947 and over the years backed nearly every performer at the Grand Ole Opry as a house band guitarist from the late 1950s until 2006. Spider was a sought-after studio musician playing guitar on recordings by country, rock and bluegrass...
Ron Tutt is best known for playing drums behind Elvis Presley during most of the king’s tours during the 1970s. Ron grew up with a deep passion for music and the drums, which led him to audition for Elvis as he was putting a band together for his Las Vegas comeback. Ron toured with Elvis, which may...
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 grand old pioneers such as Roy Acuff as well as current Opry members Vince Gill and Garth Brooks. Along the way he...
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 President of NAMM in the 1970s. Dex worked in every department of the company and managed several of the...
Curly Seckler was a pioneer in the development of Bluegrass music. He began performing professionally in 1935, on a daily radio program on WSTP in Salisbury, NC. After the breakup of the Monroe Brothers act, Curly was the first tenor singer selected by Charlie Monroe for his Kentucky Pardners band...
Leon Rhodes was one of the most beloved country music guitarists in history. He established himself as a clever and hard driving musician as part of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours. Leon’s guitar style helped make up the distinctive Tubb sound on recordings such as “Texas Troubadour Stomp”, “Cool...
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 shop outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Over the years the Atlanta Pro Percussion Shop has become one of the strongest...
Ken Ingram served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Selmer Company in Elkhart, Indiana. He enjoyed working with the dealers around the country and the staff at Selmer, which he felt were the best in the business. Ken worked for Selmer from l952 until 1974 when he became Vice...