Norton Records
| Norton Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder |
Miriam Linna Billy Miller |
| Genre | Rock, indie rock |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York City, New York |
| Official website | nortonrecords |
Norton Records, a New York City-based independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller in 1986, maintains a focus on rock and roll, rockabilly, primitive music, garage punk, garage rock and early rhythm and blues. Most of its output, both new releases and reissues, is issued on vinyl.
Billy Miller first encountered Miriam Linna while she was drumming for The Cramps in 1976. The two were properly introduced one day in 1977 while Miller was vending at a record show; the two chatted about music and he sold Linna a copy of You Must Be a Witch, a single by The Lollipop Shoppe. Miller later said, "You can't let a gal with taste like that slip away!" A year later, in 1978, Miller and Linna started Kicks, a magazine devoted to obscure rock, soul and rockabilly.
In 1986, the couple published an article in Kicks about West Virginia guitarist Hasil Adkins, for which the response was so intense that Linna and Miller decided to form a record label to reissue his music. They named their company after Ed Norton, Art Carney's character on The Honeymooners. Adkins had recorded about 15 singles in the 1950s, but many had never been released or collected on an LP. The label's debut release was a four-song 7" titled "Haze's House Party," soon followed by the Adkins compilation Out to Hunch. "We made 500 copies and prayed that it would sell," Linna recalled of the latter. In 1987, Norton released an Adkins 7" with two songs, and Miller co-produced recording sessions for a subsequent LP, The Wild Man.
Along with previously unreleased discoveries, Linna and Miller have reissued hundreds of obscurities and classics from the 1950s and 1960s, and their label's extensive catalog also includes current talents. Notable artists released on Norton include Tommy James, Doug Sahm, Gene Vincent, Kim Fowley, Reigning Sound, King Coleman, Esquerita, Charlie Feathers, Flat Duo Jets, Ron Haydock, Flamin' Groovies co-founder Roy Loney, Terry Manning, Rudy Ray Moore, Ronnie Self, Jack Starr, Gene Summers, The Teenbeats, King Uszniewicz, Gino Washington, Andre Williams, and Link Wray. In 2009, Norton released three outer space-themed Sun Ra compilations: Interplanetary Melodies, The Second Stop Is Jupiter and Rocket Ship Rock.
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