Music Retail
Shelley Wilson and her husband, Greg Murdaugh, opened the Piano Craft store in 1999. The store, which is located in Springfield MO, has a family feel whenever you visit, which may be due in large part to the mom and pop approach Greg and Shelley have towards their customers and staff. Shelley...
Sheilah McDowell is a saleswoman and Lowrey class instructor at Piano Craft in Springfield, Missouri. Her passion for the industry goes back to the days she first met her husband, Jim McDowell, and worked in his family's music store in St. Louis. She traveled the country with Fred Waring playing...
Tom Wittrock remembers the very moment he decided to dedicate his career to the guitar: when he purchased his first Les Paul sunburst in the mid-1970s. Many of his friends thought he was crazy when he paid more for a used instrument instead of getting a new one cheaper, but Tom knew just what he...
Greg Murdaugh is the president of Piano Craft in Springfield, Missouri. The store, which is co-owned by his wife Shelley, opened in 1999. Greg grew up in the business, as his father owned a piano store years ago. After serving as a manufacturers’ road rep, Greg and Shelley decided to open the...
Donovan Bankhead has a true passion for the music! His early memories regarding musical instruments involved seeing his older sister’s guitar and flute and taking notice of them before he even played an instrument himself. That came when he was in school and asked to join the band, which he did...
Jim Hearn brings a great deal of experience to his position as Vice President at Piano Craft in Springfield, Missouri. Jim owned and operated his own music store in a local mall for over twenty years and before that cut his teeth in sales at one of the Wurlitzer factory-owned retail stores in...
Richard Gellis remembers the early days of the vintage guitar movement when greater value was being placed on "used instruments." As his small store grew in Santa Cruz, California, so did his reputation for knowledge and customer services that helped make Union Grove Music the go-to place for...
Tom Steuckert is a veteran of the music industry having served as store manager at Union Grove Music in Santa Cruz, a road rep and sales manager. His career began when he helped assemble synthesizers for Dave Smith at Sequential Circuits in the early 1980s. Tom later owned his own store in Half...
Fat Dog is the founder of Subway Guitars in Berkeley, California. Since the 1960s, the store has become a hub for musicians to gather to discuss everything from politics and human rights concerns as well as music and poetry. The level of social awareness that Subway had was in Fat Dog's...
Ann Patrick Green is the founder of Patrick Music School in Fullerton, California and the music teacher who provided training lessons during the NAMM Shows. Her passion has always been centered around teaching, so when she had the opportunity to open a music school she jumped at the chance. For...