Memphis TN
Nick Averwater is part of the fourth generation of the Averwater family to be working at Amro Music in Memphis, TN. Nick fondly remembers his time as a kid running around the store and working odd-jobs for extra money. After obtaining his MBA with a focus in finance and completing an internship...
Pat Averwater has always been proud of the musical legacy of his grandfather, who established Amro Music in the 1920s. Since then, the Memphis based store has become a hub for the musical culture in the area. Pat and his brother, Chip, became the third generation to run the family business. They...
Al Bell was in the Stax recording studio in Memphis at the very moment Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed just a few blocks away. Ironically, the recording Al was producing at that time was a song he wrote encouraging Dr. King, whom he had known for years, to be cautious carrying...
Jody Stephens, along with three of his friends, formed the influential rock band Big Star and went on to recording several albums with the band. The band cut their early demos and all of their studio recordings at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The studio's founder, John Fry, took a liking to Jody and...
William Bell began singing in doo-wop groups before signing for Stax Records in Memphis, which is where his first hit was recorded. In fact that song, "You Don't Miss Your Water" was also the first big hit for the newly formed record label that would go on to redefine soul music. William wrote...
Martin Shore began playing drums at the age of six and always found great comfort in music. When the idea of a documentary about Memphis music came up, Martin ran with the idea, which has become the award winning film Take Me To The River. The film was shown at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of...
Matt Ross-Spang is a Grammy award winning engineer, mixer, and producer. His first brush with greatness began at only 14 years old, when he received 2 hours studio time at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN for his birthday. He went on to intern at Sun Studios when he was 16 and really learned what it...
Boo Mitchell was born in Memphis, TN to a very musical family. Hi father, Willie Mitchell, ran Royal Studios and was VP of Hi Records. He began working with his father at a very young age, and got to work along amazing artists such as Al Green, KC & the Sunshine Band, the Doobie Brothers, and...
Larry Dodson Sr. was asked to become the first singer in the Bar-Kays back in 1970. The band started out as an instrumental group in the 1960s and gained world-wide fame as Otis Redding band. When Otis and four members of the band died in a 1967 plane crash, two surviving band members decided to...
Bob Wray remembers the day he was sitting in the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama when Clarence Carter outlined the next song he was ready to cut. Bob was to play guitar on the song, which was “Patches.” The song was the biggest in Mr. Carter’s career and Bob knew then and there that...