Folk Music
Jodi Siegel grew up in a musical family and developed a passion for music at a young age. Jodi started playing the ukulele because of its size but quickly moved onto the guitar. A big influence for her was Duane Allman, whom she would try to figure out how to replicate the sound of without...
Chuck Neitzel joined Deering Banjo in January 1979 having previously been a woodworker with antique furniture. Chuck also brought with him a deep respect and passion for bluegrass music, which he had followed and played since he was a young man. Working closely with Greg Deering in the early days...
Pete McClelland teamed up with his wife to open a folk instrument music store in London in 1975. The idea was new and it was unclear if they would be successful, but they dedicated themselves to their customers and to the folk and bluegrass communities. Hobgoblin Music grew, and Pete felt a...
Harry Sparks is the founder of the Famous Old Time Music Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. Harry grew up in the folk and bluegrass era of the 1960s and joined a band at a young age. Over the years he began repairing instruments, at first for his band mates and friends, which led to him opening the store...
Harry Bickel has been passionate about the folk songs and bluegrass music of Kentucky since he was a kid. While in college, he took banjo lessons from J.D. Crowe and learned how to repair banjos from Tom Haile, at Shackleton’s music store. When he purchased his home (The Bluegrass Hotel) in 1975,...
Dan Crary first played an acoustic music festival in the 1960’s when the steel-string guitar was often in the background. However, Dan’s lead guitar playing caught the attention of a generation of fans and musicians and influenced their acceptance of the guitar as a lead instrument in folk and...
Byron Walls is a singer/songwriter who began his career during the folk music boom of the early 1960s. He sang in a number of groups during his career, including The Travellers, for which Byron was a founding member. The group opened for Phyllis Diller at the Purple Onion in San Francisco and later...
Marc Silber has had a series of music stores during his long and colorful career including Fretted Instruments, located in Greenwich Village, New York and Marc Silber’s Music in Berkeley, California. While he owned Fretted Instruments in the early 1960s, Marc sold a guitar to Bob Dylan, who hung...
Bob Ulius began working in the music industry when San Francisco retailer, Stu Goldberg, hired Bob at Marina Music in 1969. It was the beginning of a long career that included gigs at Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland, California, and with Sound Genesis. Bruce Hatch formed Sound Genesis, which was located...
John Logan became hooked on the Folk music craze and picked up the banjo as a result of the inspiration he felt from the genre. While attending the University of Tennessee, he formed a folk trio that became rather popular on campus. That group went on to tour and perform with Fred Waring and the...