OH Taxonomy
Marion Holloway is the president of Holloway Music in Monroe, North Carolina. The store was established by his grandfather in 1912 and run for many years by his father, who served as a mentor in business for Marion. Marion and his wife have been dedicated to their community and the needs of their...
Donald Hodges is a music educator who has taken on the research role to map the brain's responses to music. His research has shown that music is not just a nice, but unnecessary element of the human life, but rather something that is necessary and very much a core part of the human experience. As...
Dennis Howren is the president of the Howren Music Store in Charlotte, North Carolina. The store was founded by his father and was run by his two older brothers before Dennis took over as president. The store has a strong school music program and in fact one of Dennis's first jobs after returning...
Harry West was the founder of Fine Musical Instruments located in Statesville, North Carolina. The store was an early pioneer in vintage stringed instrument sales and in fact, Stanley Jay once called Harry, "the father of us all." His store was later renamed Harry and Jeanie West's Fine Musical...
Mark Thomas was a noted flute player who toured the world and recorded several albums during his long career. As a product endorser, Mark appeared in several printed ads over the years as he was hired by several flute makers as a product engineer to help improve and in some cases, design musical...
Eddie Ray was the A&R man for Capitol-Tower Records and Imperial Records for many years. As a result he was instrumental in the careers of such artists as Fats Domino, Sandy Nelson, Pink Floyd and Ricky Nelson, among others. Eddie was also a songwriter whose songs have been performed and...
Charles Lawson has played church organ from boyhood all the way into his 80s. He was hired by a small piano store when he first moved to Bristol, Tennessee, from Knoxville to be close to his wife’s family. Along the way he opened a piano shop in Bristol, and worked closely with the Baldwin Piano...
George Shuffler was the country and bluegrass guitar player who is credited for a three figure cross-picking playing style (down two strings, up one) that he created out of necessity. While playing for a small country band on the radio in the 1940s, George needed to add fills to several slow paced...
Tut Taylor was a world renowned Dobro player, but did you know he partnered with George Gruhn and the two hired Randy Wood to form a music store in Nashville? Gruhn Guitars began as GTR, which was an abbreviation for George, Tut and Randy, when it opened in the 1970s. Although George would buy Tut...
Guy Ward was the president of the Ward Piano Company, located in Canton, North Carolina, from the 1940s until his retirement. After his daughter and son took over the company, he continued to go into the shop every day even at the time of his 2013 NAMM Oral History interview when he was 89! As...