Norton Records

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Norton Records, a New York City based independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, maintains a focus on primitive, retro rock'n'roll, rockabilly, garage punk, garage rock, lounge music, and R&B. In 1986, when the couple published an article about West Virginia guitarist Hasil Adkins, 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. "We made 500 copies and prayed that it would sell," recalled Linna.

Along with previously unreleased discoveries, Linna and Miller have successfully reissued many other obscurities and classics from the 1950s and 1960s, and their extensive catalog includes such talents as King Coleman, Wade Curtiss, Elroy Dietzel, Esquerita, Charlie Feathers, Flat Duo Jets, Ron Haydock, Roy Loney, Rudy Ray Moore, Johnny Powers, Joe E. Ross, Doug Sahm, Ronnie Self, Tyrone Schmidling, Jack Starr, King Uszniewicz, Gene Vincent, Gino Washington, Andre Williams and Link Wray.

Their El Paso Rock series, for example, chronicles the early days of the El Paso rock scene, beginning with the legendary first recordings of Bobby Fuller, including the original 1964 pre-hit version of "I Fought the Law," first issued by Fuller on his own Exeter label. Volume two in the series offers more Fuller in a selection of "never before issued live mayhem from Texas teen clubs, shopping centers, bowling alleys circa 1962-64 plus insane home recordings."

In Billboard's "Declaration of Independents" column, Norton received kudos for their Sonics and Fabulous Wailers reissues, and Goldmine praised Big Star's Nobody Can Dance as "the most exciting reissue of the decade... one of the strongest pieces of music I've heard in 25 years."

Radio station WFMU celebrated the label's 15 years in the business with the "Norton Records 15th Anniversary Roast," aired October 25, 2001, on Music to Spazz By with Dave the Spazz. The show was heralded with the following promotional copy:

OO-EE-AAH-AAH! OO-EE-AAH-AAH! OO-OO-EEEEEEEE!!!! Join Dave the Spazz as he helps Billy Miller & Miriam Linna celebrate 15 sleazy, swanky, swingin' years of Brooklyn's own Norton Records. Expect rare and well-done anecdotes, surprises and slabs of vinyl from Hasil Adkins, Link Wray, Esquerita, Dolemite, Charlie Feathers, Joe E. Ross and other Norton World Renown Superstars!

Norton Records stages music events in the New York area, such as their 2005 New Year's Eve Rock N' Roll Show & Dance at Union Pool in Brooklyn, an event headlined by Linna and Miller's band the A-Bones and emceed by the Mighty Hannibal.

In addition to their line of magazines (Kicks, Bad Seed), Norton Records also published a book on the work of photographer Eddie Rocco, who contributed to Charlton's Ebony Song Parade and freelanced for Fort Worth's Sepia magazine. Printed on quality stock with an attractive graphic design, The Great Lost Photographs of Eddie Rocco collects many unknown, unpublished 1950s and 1960s pictures, including shots of Esquerita, Ruth Brown, the Treniers and Roy Orbison. After finding a copy at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History bookstore, Dr. Ink (aka Dr. Roy Peter Clark) highlighted the importance of Rocco's work in an April 2, 2003 review of the book, "Jukin' with Eddie Rocco". Ink wrote:

Rocco's work would come to the attention of Charlton Publications, a house that specialized in printing lyrics of popular music along with photos of the stars. Founded in 1931, Charlton produced a series of popular music magazines, "which provided beat-happy boppers of all ethnicities with information on R&B musicians, songwriters, and disc jockeys." Although Rocco's photos of popular white bands in the 1960s may attract some fans, it is his earlier work capturing black artists that should be of special interest to journalists, especially those trying to understand the importance of diversity. In spite of its reputation for mass-producing pulp fiction and comic books, Charlton Publications, writes Miriam Linna, "has long gone unlauded for pioneering true racial integration in mass market magazines at a time when other teen periodicals remained safely segregated." Rocco was no Pat Boone, exploiting and whitewashing black creativity. Instead, he and his camera were telling the untold story of the evolution of black music beyond the borders of a black audience.

Norton kicked off their 20th anniversary with a massive 80-page catalog, featuring a cover photograph of Marty Lott, the Gulf Coast Fireball, aka The Phantom, and a dedication: "Our 20th Anniversary catalog is dedicated to the memory of Norton's very first artist, the immortal Hasil Adkins." Adkins died in 2005.