Jack Norton - Old Time Fun

Listen to Jack Norton's Old-Time Radio Show and Podcast! Requests: 818-233-0612 or hello@jacknortonmusic.com

BIO: I was born somewhere in rural Georgia during the summer of 1879 to a family of itinerant workers. I spent my childhood drifting from town to town, eventually learning how to play the guitar from blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson.

When I was 12, I ran away from home to join the circus and later worked as a comedian in a traveling medicine show. I moved to New Orleans, playing banjo in Jelly Roll Morton’s band. Later I moved to New York City and found myself in the heart of Tin Pan Alley, penning hit songs for Al Jolson, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby.

I recorded my first records for Okeh in Asheville, NC, in the summer of 1925. It was here that I influenced Jimmie Rodgers and Emmett Miller. During the folk boom of the early 1960s, I would influence artists such as Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan.