Music Retail
Robert Strait is proud of the music retail traditions that his father developed when their family owned store was first established back in 1967. Since that time, his father, Dan, along with his brother, David, expanded the store to offer a complete line of musical instruments as well as lessons...
Tommy Robertson was born in Austin, Texas, a feat he calls “as rare as a unicorn these days.” Tommy played drums throughout his teen years before he decided to open his first drum shop. Tommy’s Drums has provided the Austin area drummers with service and quality products as well as repairs. In the...
David Strait is one of two sons of original Strait Music Company owner and founder, Dan Strait. During his interview David talked about growing up working with their father in a true family business. David has been very successful as the head of the piano department for over 40 years and expanded...
Rick Santos enjoyed music from a very young age, played guitar, and after college he went into the banking world where a chance encounter with a local music retailer led him to buy a music store in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Eventually, Rick created a concept for a different kind of music store and...
Glenn Treibitz purchased Hollywood Piano from the original owners which was established in 1928. As the “go to” piano store for movies and television, Hollywood Piano has provided pianos to the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Frank Sinatra, the set of the television hit Frasier, and Casablanca. Hollywood...
Clinton Muntean went back to school at Full Sail University at the age of 27 in order to get the foundational education to enter the recording engineering field. After graduating, Clinton found work with Soundelux Showorks as an intern and then as an editor. He then transitioned into a position...
Angela Currier was asked to leave her day job in order to assist her her husband, Cliff, run the family music store. While at first Angela was disappointed to leave her career, she soon fell in love with the store and its customers. Angela and her husband, Cliff, are still involved in the shop...
Clint Strait was born in Austin, TX and is the 3rd generation to work for the Strait Music Company. Clint is carrying on his family’s tradition of great customer service and selection to provide the community with a one-stop store for all their music instrument needs. Always looking towards the...
Chris Syllaba grew up in Washington D.C. and found music throughout the city during his childhood years. He soon found a position within Jordan Kitt’s Music store in 1984 and rose through the ranks to his current position as the President and CEO. During his Oral History interview at the 2017 NAMM...
Mike Martin grew up tinkering on his grandmother’s piano before and taking piano lessons throughout his school years. Hearing his first synthesizer helped provide the motivation to work towards buying his first one in the early 1980s which he still has today. Mike got his official start in the...