Celebrating 100 Years with Amro Music

Amro Music shares its centennial birthday with other notable events like scientists isolating the hormone insulin, the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, and Albert Einstein winning the Nobel Prize in Physics. Luckily for musicians across the mid-south, Mil Averwater took a stroll through the streets of Memphis during a railway layover on his way to Los Angeles.

In October 1921, Averwater, along with his business partner, Frank Moorman, opened the doors of Amro Music. Deriving its name from a combination of Averwater and Moorman, the operation was opened strictly as a piano lesson studio. The business struggled to attract customers, so the duo would often open the windows of their second-floor studio and play to draw in interested parties. Once inside, Averwater would then pitch a 30-lesson course. As the strategy attracted more students, Amro Music added banjo, guitar, and saxophone lessons to its repertoire. As a keen observer, Averwater further expanded the business by embracing the rise of jazz, and in 1923 he wrote The Amro System of Popular Jazz, a method book used by many pianists interested in learning the jazz technique.

Despite the arrival of the Great Depression, Amro Music found ways to survive. With little disposable income left to continue music lessons, Averwater began to accept bartering in exchange for lessons, including payment in the form of milk or chickens. Eventually, as the country recovered, so did the business. Amro Music eventually expanded into instrument sales, and as school bands began to grow, the store added instrument rentals to its growing list of services.

Averwater retired in 1968 after Amro Music had grown to become a full-line music store and had added a second location. The second generation of Averwaters was now at the helm of the business with Averwater’s sons, Bob and Ron, as President and Vice President. The second-generation expanded by opening a third location and adding the third generation of Averwater’s with Bob’s sons Chip and Pat joining upon Bob’s retirement. The fourth, and the current, generation of leadership includes Chip’s son, CJ, Pat, and his son, Nick.

Throughout its illustrious history, Amro Music has been a supporter of NAMM and its Resource Center by providing oral history interviews to document and record the history of our industry. The NAMM Oral History Collection includes interviews with Chip, CJ, Pat, Nick, Rob, and even Mil, thanks to the foresight of his grandson Chip, who thought to record his grandfather discussing the store before his death.

For more information on Amro Music, please visit them at https://www.amromusic.com/.