Collings makes some of the best acoustic guitars in the world and counts Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, and Joni Mitchell among his customers. His company, located outside Austin on U.S.

Collings dropped out of medical school and moved from Ohio to Houston in 1975, where he worked as an engineer for a pipeline company during the day. At night he built guitars. Three years later he met ...

With her Collings acoustic guitar in hand and a small plastic container filled with guitar picks and capos in front of her, Michelle Malone unleashes a gritty, potent vocal. She’s seated in the ...