Memphis TN
Dave Campbell grew up in a household full of music! Both of his grandmothers were piano teachers and his father was a professional piano player. With such a strong background in music it was no surprise that Dave became a professional musician and made it his career until his early 30s. Dave also...
TK Keckler moved to Memphis at an early age and began playing with local bands, which is when he met Mike Ladd. Mike was a musician who opened a small guitar shop in town and would later become a strong force in the electric guitar movement of the 1970s, including the reissue of the Gibson Le Paul...
Vernon Drane played several musical instruments growing up in Tennessee including the trumpet and saxophone. He later studied instrument repair and spent 68 years (!) working with the Amro Music Company in Memphis. Vernon was also a baritone singer who performed in two church choirs for over 60...
Robert Averwater’s father, M. J. Averwater taught music, wrote a method book and opened up Amro Music in Memphis, TN, with a fellow music teacher. Robert recalled some of the challenges of the store in the early days after World War II. The inventory needed to be reestablished as instruments and...
Art Ritchie grew up in East Rochester, New York in the same part of town that Elmer Brooks grew up. Elmer would later hire Art becoming one of his mentors in the music industry. After serving in the military, Art returned to East Rochester in 1960 and joined the sales team at Aeolian Piano Company...
Reggie Young is known throughout the world as one of the great studio session players referred to as the Memphis Boys. He played guitar on thousands of recordings as a session player in Memphis and later Nashville during the 1960s, 70s and 80s - turning out hit recordings that forever changed...
Norm Thompson began his career in the music products industry as a salesman for retailers in Memphis during the 1950s. He worked his way up to a position of buyer for the store O. K. Hauck, which introduced him to the wholesalers, many of whom he would later work for. Norm found it rewarding to...
Sonny Burgess was known as the wild man of rock and roll who brought a driving guitar style to early Sun recordings (the label that launched Elvis Presley). Among those recordings were “We Wanna Boogie” and “Feelin’ Good.” Sonny’s early days with Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records, were at...
Kern Kennedy tickled the ivories on a number of early rock and roll and rockabilly recordings back in the 1950s. It was the heyday for Sun Studios in Memphis right after the success of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Founder, Sam Phillips often called on Kern when a piano player was...
Scotty Moore set a date and time on July 4, 1954, to get together with a young singer who wanted to record with Sam Philips at Sun Records in Memphis. Sam asked Scotty, who had recorded with several bands on Sun, to call this kid and work out a few songs. This was his first meeting with Elvis...