Jack norton artist

Much younger. Preschoolers, in fact. Norton began performing at age four in a family bluegrass band. Going solo at the age of sixteen, Norton has been a professional touring musician for the past twelve years. It was only last year that Norton began finding his true calling, however: performing and entertaining for children.

Earlier this year, Norton disbanded his own successful nationally known bluegrass group The Mullet River Boys, to focus solely on performing for children. To devote all of my time performing for children has been a scary move, but Ive found it to be incredibly rewarding. I realized that I wouldnt have been a musician myself if not for going to a Raffi concert when I was two. If one childrens entertainer could give me a lifetime gift of music, I feel it is my duty to hopefully do the same.

Writing developmentally appropriate songs and rediscovering classic nursery rhymes and fingerplays came so naturally it felt like I had been performing childrens music my whole life, Norton says. I grew up on jug band and dixieland music. So much of the playfulness and whimsy of those styles fits perfectly in what I do with kids.

Nortons deep respect for the history of early American folk music influences his shows. I like to bring a variety of folk instruments to engage children in a more organic experience On stage, Jacks playful original songs, friendly voice and warm yodel, as well as his accomplished banjo, ukulele and guitar playing delight his young audience.

He encourages movement and dance through being an energetic and upbeat performer. Norton has worked as a childrens music specialist in preschools and day care centers and is currently earning his degree in Early Childhood Education. Preschoolers especially love his music. Its so much fun to see a crowd of preschool children all dancing with me or making barnyard animal sounds, Norton says. Norton and his wife Kitty now live in rural Arizona and founded an entertainment production company in Phoenix.

Last year, they created The Zinghoppers - a touring edutainment show featuring a band of friendly animal characters similar to the Wiggles or the Doodlebops. Jack keeps his own work as a kids musician more simple, however: performing solo folk concerts in theaters, small arts venues, schools and churches. I got an email from a dad who was at a show last week and he described me as Mr. Rogers with a ukulele I think thats a pretty good description of what I do, says Jack.

The Washington Post hailed Norton as, a near brilliant songwriter and Billboard Magazine raved, he is an artist to watch I'm a Central Florida based artist born in Lakeland, Florida, but my work has taken me across the country several times.

I consider Orlando my hometown because that is where I've spent my years. I have traveled a lot over the past ten years, trying to make being an artist a profession. I genuinely do love this stuff, and I love the act of doing it just as much, and by that, I mean is the action of creating and being in those moments mean more to me sometimes Results: 2, Filters.

More Collections. Search Type Keywords. Department Wall Art. Product All. Stationery Greeting Cards Notebooks. Medium All. Enigmatic blues artist Leon Redbone was Jack's guitar teacher. The duo co-created, co-directed, co-wrote and co-starred in The Zinghoppers Show , a children's television series which earned six regional Emmy Award nominations and was broadcast on over PBS member stations nationwide and in countries on the AFN Family Channel and on Trinity Broadcast Network.

The film had a successful run at major film festivals and independent cinemas around the world, available on Amazon. Recently the duo performed in 19 countries for the US Pentagon, entertaining military families in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Jack and Kitty are in post production of a feature length film called Infinite Chaos, due in The duo claim that this work has inspired them to create a new genre of film called "isolationism".