When the nation celebrates its birthday on Friday, Nashville will be one of many cities across America shooting off fireworks, with Phil Vassar and the Lost Trailers taking part in a celebration expected to draw 100,000 people to Riverfront Park.

Another anniversary is coming up on Sunday that has its own impact on Music City and its creative community. Bob Mulloy was born 75 years ago in Nashville. The name won’t mean much to a lot of readers, but he’s had a huge impact on who works on Music Row and who records there. Bob created a Music Business program at then-tiny Belmont College in 1972. The school is located near the end of 16th Avenue, literally 1.1 miles from the first recording studio on the Row, where Marty Robbins cut “El Paso” and Johnny Cash did “Ring Of Fire.”

At the time, the music business was a tight, informal pursuit where who you knew meant a lot more than what you knew. Music is heard, not seen, so there was a huge amount of misunderstanding about sound as a product. Who you know is still important today, but expectations are higher in part because of the Belmont program, which has its own way of sorting out future pros from wannabes. Brad Paisley met producer Frank Rogers there, Josh Turner got his first publishing deal through a fellow Belmont student, and the school’s other alumni include Trisha Yearwood, Ty Herndon, Restless Heart’s Larry Stewart, Lee Ann Womack, Julie Roberts and “You’re Gonna Miss This” songwriter Ashley Gorley, just to name a handful.

Belmont’s campus includes a rather impressive studio, where the halls are lined with gold records, demonstrating just how important its program is to the industry. The program’s creator died 10 years ago, but his impact is still remembered: Those professional-level recording facilities are named the Robert E. Mulloy Student Studios.