OH Taxonomy
Jerry Puckett is a studio musician for Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi who played guitar on the hits “Groove Me” by King Floyd and “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jewel Bass, among many others. Jerry also performed on several historic albums over his long career including Remember Me by Willie Nelson and...
Jewel Bass is known for singing backup on countless Malaco recordings since 1969 and with her own band, These Days. She started singing in church, influenced by her uncles who sang in a gospel group. After joining an R&B band that toured the East Coast, she began singing for Malaco Records in...
Sam Hart’s father was a preacher who sang with his siblings as the Hart Brothers. Sam grew up surrounded by music and was encouraged to join the school band in the sixth grade. In 1975, after studying music education, Sam was hired as a repairman for Wright Music in Jackson, Mississippi. Sam later...
Donna Reed wanted to continue to provide music lessons even after retiring from teaching in a traditional school setting. After 30 years as a music education teacher in the public schools, Donna retired and turned to providing private lessons at Mississippi Music. Growing up in the church and in a...
James Evans met one of his musical heroes, Louie Lee, in 1977. Mr. Lee took the time to show James techniques in playing his saxophone that greatly inspired him. Over the years he developed into a highly regarded studio musician, often recording at Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi. Among...
Jason Stanfield has always enjoyed finding new and funny sounds, which means he really enjoyed the synthesizer developments of the 1990s! He worked for Mississippi Music in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the early 1990s where he fell in love with music retail. Jason later worked for Sam Ash in Florida...
Wolf Stephenson met Tommy Couch (the founder of Malaco Records) while the two studied pharmacy in college. They began booking musical acts for their college parties and soon expanded to events and night clubs in and around Oxford, Mississippi. In 1963, Wolf met Rick Hall (the founder of Fame...
David Miller is the band director who had the vision of a musical outlet for adult musicians in mostly non-music careers when he helped establish the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band. He was active in school band programs as a kid and played French horn in college, after which he became a band...
Doug Williams heard his father singing as far back as he can remember. As a member of the Big Five gospel group, his father encouraged his children to sing in church. Doug sang with his two older brothers as part of the Williams Brothers, a group that performed and recorded for several decades. In...
Bobby Rush won his first GRAMMY at the age of 83 in 2017, some sixty years after his first professional gig as a bluesman. Beginning in the 1950s, Bobby performed live and recorded in Chicago with such artists as Bo Diddley, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter and Muddy Waters. Moving to...