Randy Layton
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Randy Layton (September 4, 1959 - ) is an American record producer, songwriter, and head of the Alternative Records label, which released albums by The 77's, Robert Vaughn, Steve Scott, Two Pound Planet, and several others.
His father, Sonny Richter, was a guitarist who was first featured on 1949 recordings with MGM artist Sam Nichols, then over the years worked with Cliffie Stone, Jimmy Bryant,and others during the 1950's until his last recordings with Monte Mills in the 1990's.
Layton's first recording with a children's group was in 1966; after starting with violin and moving into drums, bass, and guitar found more direction in writing for other bands and doing artist managemnt and producing concerts in the late 1970's.
Alternative Records began first as a mail-order company specalising in obscure Christian music domestic and from other countries starting in 1979 and is considered a pioneer in CCM collecting circles.
While doing that and owning or managing records stores he continued to write music, had poems published, and hosted a radio program in Fresno, featuring many of the same artists he would come to work with.
After moving back to Eugene, Oregon, he began to do promotion work for Island Records, which lead to him shutting down the mail order side and launched Alternative as a record label, first releasing albums by Steve Scott, then with Michael Roe and the 77's.
The label caught the attention of BMG, who wanted to take on distribution, but the deal was broken at the last minute; a relationship with Sony Music due to the Robert Vaughan project collapsed under legal battles between the artist, Alternative, and Sony.
After releasing a couple of label retrospectives, including Bootlevel and Shirley, Goodness and Misery (including rare Daniel Amos tracks) Layton shut down the label and went back to running music retail and producing and releasing albums by local bands. This included albums by Eagle Park Slim, Skeleton Closet, and a children's small orchestra album.
More recently, he produced two fan club albums for Michael Roe and The 77's, including Guilty Pleasures, and has also remastered several projects for local artists. He also has written liner notes for several projects, including the Daniel Amos box set, as well as contributions to the Beach Boys Pet Sounds box.
