"Nashville Musical Instrument Co." ??? help ID

[jerryroberts]

Some info about Gower, Grammar, Cromwell, NMI, Nashville Musical Instruments.
Cromwell and Co. was a wholesaler to the music trades in the 1970s and 1980s. They were located in a small warehouse space on Crutchfield Dr. off Murfreesboro Road a couple miles from the airport. They sold strings, accessories, instruments, to stores, not to the general public. I was a classical guitar dealer and bought from them in those days. I was also occasionally hired to inspect and adjust guitars when they arrived from Japan or Spain. Some familiar brands were Yamaha, Takamine, Raimundo. Additionally There were guitars from several good workshops in Japan that were sold under the house brand "NMI"
MR Cromwell is a longtime friend. He ran a tight ship at Cromwell & Co, extremely reputable. I never heard of any lawsuit. I never heard of a Cromwell location on Broadway.
Gower was making making flat top steel string acoustics in the 1960s, perhaps 1950s perhaps 1970s. ShoBud guitar shop was located in the 400 block of lower broadway and likely had an affiliation with Gower Guitars. Billy Grammar was country singer who sang and played instrumental solos on the Grand Ole Opry around 1960. I think the Grammar guitar brandname was his. They looked very much like Gower, perhaps produced by the same Tennessee workshop. They were not Martin copies and they were not made in Asia. For all I know they might have been made at Shobud. After all shobud made and marketed pedal steel guitars. ShoBud name was a contraction of SHOt Jackson and BUDdy Emmons. It was a good sized walk-in store. they took in repairs. Eventually Gruhn bought the building next door (or maybe the very same building) and moved there from around the corner on 4th ave No.
On that block there was Griffin Art supply, Tootisies Orchid Lounge, Jack Friedman's pawn shop, another pawn shop, Robert's western Wear, and several "adult oriented" businesses
Tootsies, ShoBud, the second Gruhn location had their back doors right across the ally from the stage door of the Ryman auditorium. Those were interesting times on Lower Broadway. Very Different and totally family friendly today.