Full Interview
Emilio Lyons would often have his well-known customers such as Stan Getz and Benny Carter meet him at his home whenever they needed work done on their saxophone. Emilio was the manager for a music store in Boston while also repairing instruments whenever he could. Over the years he built a...
Larry Dalton started playing drums at a young age after seeing The Beatles on TV. His love for music stayed with him, and he began playing in multiple bands and went on many tours in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Larry then went on to get heavily involved with drum machines, programming...
Bob Stroger found himself on stage at a blues club as a teenager not sure exactly what to do. He had an electric bass in his hand and laid down the bass parts he heard on his Jimmy Reed records. The club owner told Bob there was much more to playing the blues than copying a riff. As he felt the...
Rick Nielsen is among the very few rock stars who grew up in a music store! His story and background is perfect for the NAMM Oral History program as it ties together a professional career in music making with mom and pop music retailing! Rick's father purchased a music store in Rockford, Illinois...
Donnie Wade "borrowed" his parent’s car when he was 14 years old to drive to a bar so he could hear Freddie King play the guitar! That experience and an earlier encounter with Merle Travis marked the beginning of his passion for the guitar! That passion took him from his own retail shop in Texas to...
Karl Denson has played the saxophone alongside Lenny Kravitz, The Rolling Stones, Jack DeJohnette, Switchfoot, and the Blind Boys of Alabama (among others). He was the co-founder of the acid jazz band The Greyboy Allstars, which was formed in 1993. The band originally got together for a CD release...
Peter Chaikin was still in high school when he knew in his heart what he wanted to be when he grew up: a recording engineer. With the Billboard Directory of Studios under his arm, and encouragement from iconic producer Phil Ramone, Peter headed west and landed a job at Los Angeles' legendary Record...
Eric Schoenberg opened his own guitar shop in Tiburon, California after working music retail on the east coast for decades. Over the years he watched the vintage guitar market grow and develop. He also designed his own line of Schoenberg Guitars beginning in the 1980s. The folk craze of the late...
Phyllis Webb and her husband, Dale, formed The Magic Fluke Company in 1999. The company began making ukuleles in the basement of their home in New Hartford, Connecticut. They were inspired and encouraged by Phyllis’s brother, Jim Beloff, an accomplished musician and guitarist who discovered the...
Dale Webb wanted to create a new design for the ukulele with the hope that it would inspire more people to play a musical instrument. His Fluke did exactly that! The instrument was introduced at the NAMM Show at the perfect time as a new wave of popularity for the ukulele swept the world! Since...