Oral History - all
Birth Date: February 14, 1924
Deceased Date: April 26, 2021
Max Cooke was an Australian classically trained pianist and professor who wrote a series of method books to assist his students. He began teaching piano students at the University of Melbourne in 1952. Along the way, he developed a teaching style based on his teachers and ideas he gathered about... more
Abel Sanchez is the noted restoration expert for such piano brands as Steinway and Chickering. Abel was born and raised in northern Mexico on the cattle ranch along with seven brothers. By the late 1950s, he moved to San Diego where he began working for two music stores as a piano technician. Some... more
Dave Shadoan is the president of Sound Image, one of the largest Live Sound companies in the world. His longtime partner and good friend, Ross Ritto, formed Silverfish Audio with Joel Silverman in 1971. Dave later joined the company and by 1981 became half owner with Ross. They changed the name and... more
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... more
Jerry Masters grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas where he heard his mother playing piano in church as far back as he can remember. After serving in the US Army, Jerry formed his own rock band and recorded the hit "Let It All Hang Out" while in Houston. He later moved to Memphis where he befriend Bill... more
Larry Byrom recalls hearing Louis Armstrong as a young kid and wanting to play the trumpet, so he did for a few years. Then, he saw Chet Atkins on television and by 14 years old began playing the guitar. Just four years later he was performing in the rock band Steppenwolf! Larry became a sought-... more
Kevin Lamb distinctly remembers sitting in a music class when the subject of music publishing came up and thinking, "I never want to do that." After some forty years in the music publishing industry, he laughs at that first impression. Ironically, Kevin often teaches a college class at Belmont... more
Donna Jean Godchaux was the only female singer with the Grateful Dead (on stage and on recordings) from 1971 until 1979. In fact, she was the first female singer with the group and was once married to the band's keyboard player. When she was just nine years old, she met Rick Hall before he opened... more
Gary Baker watched the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show along with his brother. The two became so engrossed by music that his brother bought Gary a Silver Tone Guitar from Sears. They formed a band together and Gary soon discovered he enjoyed writing songs. As a songwriter, Gary has written... more
Spooner Oldham was a studio musician down in Muscle Shoals, Alabama before becoming a noted songwriter. Spooner's keyboard skills can be heard on such classic records as "You'd Better Move On" and several songs with Aretha Franklin including the Wurlitzer introduction on "Never Loved a Man the Way... more
Birth Date: November 5, 1953
Deceased Date: June 24, 2020
Alan Schulman was a freelance recording engineer who worked in many of the top studios in Muscle Shoals and Nashville. Bassist Norbert Putnam called Alan, "Mr. Golden Ears" for his skillful recording techniques. Alan engineered albums for the group Alabama, Ronnie Milsap, and seven albums for Ricky... more
Steve Marcantonio began working as an assistant engineer in the New York Record Plant in 1978. He worked on the Blues Brothers project as well as with John Lennon and Yoko. Sadly, Steve was in the studio with John just an hour before he was shot and killed on his way home from the studio. Steve... more
John McBride purchased the Creative Recording Studio in Nashville in 2002 and changed the name to Blackbird Studios. The now famous studio has recorded an amazing number of top performers such as Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, and John's wife Martina McBride. In 2013, John formed an... more
Manuel Delgado is proudly following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a luthier of musical instruments. His grandfather began making classical guitars in 1928 and since that time the family has been involved with making over 40 different stringed instruments. Manuel builds several... more
Wayne Moss is the Nashville studio musician who, in 1961, built the Cinderella Recording Studios. Since that time several top recordings were captured in the studio including those by artists Chet Atkins, Barefoot Jerry, Area Code 615, Mickey Newberry, and Jerry Reed. As a session player, Wayne is... more
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turning his skills as a luthier. Country stars John Anderson and Marty Stuart are among those Marty has built and... more
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... more
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... more
Birth Date: February 23, 1954
Deceased Date: May 19, 2019
Kevin Becka started playing guitar at 11 years old and aspired to become a famous guitar player. Eventually realized he had a passion for engineering while working on construction crews building recording studios throughout the Los Angeles area, later becoming an assistant engineer in one of the... more
Billy Cox played bass alongside Jimi Hendrix as a member of Band of Gypsies. Besides his work with Hendrix, Billy recorded alongside the likes of Sam Cooke, Charlie Daniels, Little Richard, and Etta James. Starting out by learning the piano, then playing the violin, trumpet, and finally finding the... more