OH Taxonomy
Debra Karlowitch likes to tell people that she started working at C.F. Martin & Company the same week Chris Martin joined full time! At the time of her NAMM Oral History interview in 2013 she was nearing her 40th year with the company. She might also tell you, with great pride, that because...
Fred Greene enjoys running the C.F. Martin & Company factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in fact you could say it is his dream job. As a guitarist he has passion to the tenth degree when it comes to sound and quality. As a former factory manager for Gibson, he has a love of working with...
DJ GrandMixer DXT brought the turntable front and center as a musical instrument! DXT is a proud member of the "first generation" of DJs in the dawn of Hip-Hop. When he recorded a session that was played for Herbie Hancock, the result was the breakthrough hit instrumental "Rockit." The success...
Mike Moran is the noted recording engineer who helped put the sound on tape for several hits as well as historic albums. While working for RCA, Mike engineered several sessions for Elvis Presley as well as for Perry Como, David Bowie and a long list of Broadway Cast albums including the original “...
Jim Kaplan and his longtime partner, Jim Botti, were both band directors in Pittsburgh area schools when they saw the need to provide private lessons after school. Together they opened a small studio, with a small glass case for accessories. That case expanded and within a few years the store was...
Jim Botti always had a passion for music education and in fact has taught most of his life. In 1958, after he met Jim Kaplan, the two opened a teaching studio that would grow into a music store. In fact, Brighton Music has two locations in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. While the two Jims...
John Buswell was a 16-year-old drummer in the school band when his father, Stan, decided to open a drum shop. The year was 1976. The city was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The store was called Drum World. John took a few years to pursue his musical career after school and returned to the store to...
Stan Buswell had owned and operated several businesses when his teenage son, John, took an interest in the drums. Stan decided to open a small shop, which his son helped establish in Pittsburgh. They called it Drum World! John took a few years to pursue his musical career after school and...
Joe Beard doesn't remember a time when he didn't have a guitar. He grew up near Ashland, Mississippi becoming friends with locals Syl and Jimmy Johnson and Floyd and Matt Murphy. In Memphis he met B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf. Later in the 1960s in Chicago, he played with Buddy Guy, Junior Wells,...
Chuck Campbell revolutionized the "Sacred Steel" style of gospel music by adding electric guitar effect pedals to his amplified pedal steel guitar. Campbell—a member of the Keith Dominion of the House of God Church—was born in 1958 and learned from the founders of the movement, including Willie...