


An Interview with Lara Hope: Rollicking Queen of Roots, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Rockabilly Twang!
“I’ll never forget being onstage for the first time, coming out for the bow at the end of the show and hearing the applause and loving that feeling,” says Gretsch-endorsed artist Lara Hope. “I was only nine and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.” Hope has come...
On His 100th Birth Anniversary . . . Remembering My Dad, Bill Hagner. The Man Who Brought Music Into My Life.
My dad, longtime Gretsch plant manager, Bill Hagner, had a passion for music. And he made sure our home (and especially me) was always surrounded with it. I was lucky to grow up as a kid in the 60s with lots of musical instruments in our home in East Meadow, Long...
A Quality Friend
My brother and I formed a two-person band when I was fifteen years old. We almost sounded like three people so at the time that was good enough for us. We cut our teeth playing local bars and youth centers for a few years before he and my parents surprised me with a...