Music Retail
Edward Garbett was the founder of the Progressive Music store in McKeesport Pennsylvania in the years following World War II. He worked for Gretsch as Educational Director and a decade later was hired by Yamaha and oversaw the company’s growing school band programs throughout the 1960s and 70s. ...
T. Warren Brown was president of the music store his father established in the Tacoma, Washington area in the years of World War II. Ted Brown Music became an important leader in the music retail business with Warren playing key roles in the expansion of the store. Warren was also active within the...
Mickey Jent opened a small music store in Lubbock, Texas after World War II with her husband, Ray, after his return from military service. The store became a hub for local musicians including Buddy Holly. Strong supporters of the industry, the Jent's participated in Scull Groups, the early days of...
Charles Hale had an idea to hire a monkey to show how an easy-play organ could be operated by anyone. The hysterically funny ads were one of a million clever ideas Hale used in selling keyboard instruments. As the founder of Hale’s Piano and Organ Company in Florida, he established himself as a...
John Thomas was the lead piano repair man for Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. The historic music retailer, which opened for business before the Civil War and closed in 2003, had several locations in the south. However, it was the company’s Canal Street location that was known around the world...
Bitsie Werlein was the last president of the famed Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans. When its doors closed in 2003 it was the nation’s oldest operating music retailer. The company was established in 1862 during the Civil War when the Union Navy blockaded New Orleans harbor. During her years as...
Parham Werlein followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather as president of Werlein’s For Music in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like his predecessors, Parham also served on the NAMM Board and was a great supporter of the American Music Conference (AMC). Parham’s interview...
French Forbes II is the grandson of the founder of the Forbes Piano and Organ Company. E. E. Forbes (Ernest Erastus) formed the company in 1889 by selling pianos from the back of his horse-drawn carriage. His son oversaw the Birmingham, Alabama, based company during the Great Depression and French...
Gary Asher was working at Nuncie’s Music in Birmingham, Alabama when he provided a tour and interview for the NAMM Oral History program, just three years after the program began. Gary worked in the store as its General Manager for 25 years, all the while teaching drums and percussion and buying and...
Jim Darby is the band instrument salesman who formed Capital Music in Montgomery, Alabama, and who built a customer base both in school band programs as well as among the elderly. Jim’s sharp salesman pitch is like that of a preacher on Sunday morning and if you are not going to buy an instrument...