Nortunes

Share the musical quest as we discover and explore the harmony of creation, the music of the spheres, and the vibrations of the universe.

Cover art by Henry Wynn a great artist and picker.    
Welcome to the Nortune Quadrant.  Just added: Check out the excerpt of "Guitar and The Nature of Music" from Nortune's instruction book. This special study describes the relationship of the guitar to "the harmony of creation,  the music of the spheres,  and the vibrations of the universe".

 

 
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Oxford Nights
The story from the guitarist's perspective.

Bettye Swann and the Oxford Nights

Habitat For Humanity

Songs of Faith and Understanding

Nortunes Catalog CD's/Mp3

Guitar Instruction
The Nortunes contemporary guitar instruction books are available in PDF form as well as hints.

YouTube


Fall Collection: October is usually the beginning of fall and cruisin' the back roads to see the leaves. The entire collection Graves Mountain: A Portrait In Song is available for adding to your Fall cruisin' playlist. Enjoy your hot apple cider, boiled peanuts and Brunswick stew while you're listening to a beautiful portrait of fall in the mountains.

Song of the Day:
Blue Ridge Style of Life

Meditations: Adaptation of "Sweet Hour Of Prayer"

What are we sharing today... Shadow Of The Steeple?

Praying that we all return to a  "Wonderful World"... 

Recently I did one of my oldie but goldies at Davisboro Baptist Church. Its not on a CD yet but I've performed it many times at weddings and such. This version was discovered in my archives recorded on my birthday in 1982. Please enjoy "Love Is The Greatest Gift".  Written and recorded by Norton Wade; (C) and (P).


Thanks for visiting the site. With your "endeavor to persevere" you are now close to surfing to the end of the internet. The Nortunes site contains an archive of music, musical experiences (including guitarist for the Oxford Nights), instruction, faith and what-not of Norton Wade with the help of many friends from Augusta, GA and the CSRA. There are many songs that are free to listen and download from multiple stylistic collections including Beatles, Fried Pickin', Songs of Faith, Songs of the South, et cetera as well as the fall collection noted on the left. 

All through the site there are lots of Nortunes songs and arrangements in multiple guitar tunings (Standard, Open G, Open D, dropped D, Open Am, Open Em) including vocals with orchestration, combo or guitar accompaniment and solo fingerpicking, The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music/(UK Northern Soul) is also represented with our 1960's beach music band Oxford Nights. When you see a blue font that looks like a title to a song such as "Heartsfull Town" you can click on it and be entertained as you come back to this tab and continue reading. All songs are free to listen and download.

Here's a little fingerpicking from a Nortune solo acoustic guitar collection - "Sweet G and Jesu Too": "When You Wish Upon A Star". (Nortunes arrangement and performance in open G guitar tuning). All songs from "Sweet G" are available to listen and download.

And this is one by request: Nortunes arrangement of  "American Trilogy" for solo acoustic guitar.

Nortune Fried Picking: The NFP CD cover is at the top of this page with artistic credits going to Henry Wynn. He's also one of my inspirations to want to finger pick in the first place. The entire NFP collection of Nortunes originals in multiple tunings is available to listen and download here.

But wait there's "Mo'". Here is a song from a yet unpublished collection called "Mo' Fried Picking": "Nags Head Rag" which was created several years ago sitting on the porch of a beach house on the Outer Banks.

Growing up in Augusta/CSRA: The Nortune story of course starts with  my family especially my Grandma Battle who was my first music teacher,  all of my "musical brothers of the southern roads" especially those of the Oxford Nights, my fellow guitar buddies of Augusta who shared many licks and chords, bunches of guitar students (you can learn a lot teaching others), all the folks from churches (you can learn a lot from God), countless volunteers who worked/work with Habitat for Humanity and all those folks I worked with in my day job (many blessings).:

Augusta and the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) has small town charm and friendliness but big town attractions such as a university, an academic medical center, a military base, a national nuclear facility, churches, many wonderful golf courses and all of the amenities that support the culture and the arts. Growning up in the CSRA gave much fodder for someone with a song writing obsession.  The CD/song collection Heartsfull Town, Panama City, and beyond...    has nineteen songs related to places and experiences in the area.

Augusta, GA is mostly known around the world as a golf mecca. But,  Augusta is not only home to the greatest golf tournament in the world, it also is the home of James Brown, Sharon Jones (of Dap-Kings), Jessye Norman, Steve Morse, Wycliffe Gordon, T. Hardy Morris (and his mother Lillie Hardy Morris whose breadth of multi field talent gives her the title of "Renaissance Lady"), Larry John Wilson, Terri Gibbs, Sammy O'Banion, Alan Cooke, the men of Lady Antebellum and many more. A special shout out goes to my buddy Carl Purdy a talent extraordinaire.

 From early on music was always in my life including singing church hymns, learning/playing guitar with neighbors, playing trumpet in school bands, playing guitar in garage bands, songwriting, teaching guitar lessons, playing in bands going "on the road", recording, etc. As much as I wanted to dedicate my life to music, circumstances arose that were perfectly clear... get a day job. It was pure luck that I faked my way into a computer career in 1972. We were doing punched cards when I started and 42 years later when I retired... well what do you say?  For me it created an unforeseen opportunity for a dual path computers and music (article circa 1987).

I'm not sure if its the water from the Savannah River or musical serendipity. I just know that I grew up playing and learning from a wide web of great guitarists and musicians. I learned piano from my Grandma Battle a long time teacher and church pianist. I had private lessons on trumpet from Antonio J. Dwinga a graduate of Julliard's.

And ultimately whether I sat down with them or "stole" licks, patterns and chords, I've had many guitar teachers/buddies in the Augusta area. This includes Alan Cooke, Henry Wynn, David Fletcher, John Wilson, Bert Sansom, Bob Kline, David Andrews, Hank Sulzycki, Van Haywood (writer of how to play Christian Songs on Guitar and father of Dave Haywood of Lady A). 

Bert and Hank were also members of Wade and Co along with The Broome brothers (Wesley and Charles) as well as multiple drummers including Jeff Stone (one of my favorites).   More on Wade and Company will be added later.        

The list goes on with Jimmy Campbell and his father Eddie, Pete Fletcher, Paul McCranie, Emory Howell,  Tommy Leopard, Bruce Deas, Robbie Ducey, Frank Brittingham, Pat Blanchard, Freddie Williamson, the Gowers brothers, the Brantley boys, the Pittmans (Tony, Toby and Tanney), Frank's brother Johnny Caneda, Leroy LLoyd, Steve Morse and many others. Thankfully I am still learning from many of these guys when I see them but a special shout out goes to my bro' Alan Cooke who along with Warren Twiggs (mandolin) we get together picking and grinning as the Alan Cooke Trio on a regular basis.

 We were incredibly lucky to be in Augusta. Many of us played in multiple bands and multiple styles of music. I started out in a four piece band made up from folks I met at church. After several iterations of that I found my way to be a part of Sammy O'Banion and the Features. Sammy was a great singer, band leader and personality. He helped me grow up and taught me how to be a professional. Sammy has recently published his autobiography here. Its a very good read. After Sammy the road led me to the Oxford Nights.

Oxford Nights: "Our mother was our music our father was the road".  The Oxford Nights band was a southeast regional Beach Music/Northern Soul group from Augusta, GA the home of James Brown and soul. We were a regional "one hit wonder" with the song:   Oxford Nights: "I'm Such a Lonely One"  documented as one of the songs on the accompanying CD of the book "The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music". The book is out of print now but at one time the book and bands in the book were honored in an exhibit and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The Oxford Nights Vinyl 45 and song is still popular for DJ's and dance clubs in the U.K. as Northern Soul and in the "Beach Music" scene of the Carolina's. 

As of this writing the recording was done about fifty years ago (yes that is 50). Trumpeter and good buddy of mine Pat Hegler has been in contact with some folks in the UK. He and I are working to get some of the remaining members together for a reunion of some sort. Pat's a cool dude and is working on putting together some stuff on the social media side of the web. For more of the story click here.

Nortune: Each of us had an alternative name given by our friends. They were mostly humorous but somewhere in my teen years the name Nortune came along.  And all it took was "that" one recording session for me to go heads down into songwriting, guitaring, producing and etc. It was a natural path to wrap all my dreams into one quadrant called Nortunes.

I had already started writing songs at an early age. My fourth grade teacher told me I had a knack for writing and my trumpet instructor gave me confidence with my music abilities. With the success of the Oxford Nights I was asked teach guitar lessons at a downtown music store when I was 15. I would just teach the songs we were playing in the band or on the radio. One of the main components of my teaching method was finding a way to compliment each student like had been done for me. After years and years of writing the basic stuff down on manuscript paper for the students I was able to create four volumes of guitar instruction on computer.

After that there was more learning, more bands, much more songwriting, solo fingerpicking, lots more teaching, writing guitar books, youth worship leading (In His Steps), congregation hymn leading, community theatre orchestra and performance, and Habitat For Humanity. Without the support of my family, many other families and friends none of this would have been possible.

Recording: Along the way there were many experiences, lots of learning and learning again and many hours of recording. Being a songwriter I had to come up with a way to make my demos inexpensively.  I started with an eight track recorder, cassette recorder, DAK reel to reel, Teac reel to reel, Tascam reel to reel, Fostex half track, VHS hi-fi two track and now of course digital. The demos eventually were grouped by type and some of the collections became CD's. Besides the 11 CD's on the mantle there are 3 more collections in the "can" and multiple singles. Here's a Nortune song in the can "Magnolia Love".  The Nortune phone has about 200 recordings. As time and space allows we'll be adding some additional favorites to the site as well as YouTube. But I also hope to continue to learn a lot of new things.
Except where noted all Nortunes songs were arranged, produced and recorded by Nortune at Nortunes Studio. Orchestrations were sequenced using various midi digital keyboards and sound modules. If you would like to know the details of any production send an e-mail. All songs with blue hi-lite on the site are free to listen and download.  All other songs are free by e-mail request.

CSRA and the South:  Many of the Nortunes songs and lyrics are about living and growing up in the CSRA. See here for a collection of originals. Many of those were written about just regular old good times along the way. One experience gave me someone else's song to enjoy for a lifetime...  My  brother and I went to Bell Auditorium somewhere in the mid-sixties to see the one and only Louis Armstrong. Brother played trombone and loved not only the great "bone" bands of the 40's but also Dixieland. Of course with me playing the trumpet you can imagine how much we loved seeing the greatest Dixieland Band of all time. "Louie" of course was not only horn but also voice and personality. He sang a song from 1930's at the concert which still remains close in memory. His version is worth taking another moment to enjoy but here is a Nortune version dug out of  the archives from the early 1990's hopefully capturing the laid back mood of the deep south: "Sleepy Time Down South" by Muse, Rene and Rene.

Here's a song inspired by the ladies of NOLA and the gulf coast (especially one whose daddy called her Sugah Foots). This song is from the "Georgia Locomotors" collection (in the can) with instrumentation and arrangement resemblimg the soul and beach band roots such as the Oxford Nights:  "Sugar Foots".

 Songs of Faith and Understanding: One of the blessings of growing up in Augusta, GA was being born into the strong influence of God, church and family. That doesn't mean you are exempt from going astray. I haven't found consistent answers except one. "Always I come back to the same ole place again..."  Nortune's Anthem: "Follow Me".   Check out here for more info about Nortune's Songs of Faith and Understanding including a special request  from an old friend or take a moment for prayer with "Hallowed" Nortunes adaptation of Matthew 6:9-13.

Habitat for Humanity: "We have the chance to build a new community full of hopes and dreams... a better Habitat For Humanity"  Nortune - The Excitement is Building... Whether your values are virtues or not, one of the greatest internal needs of humanity is to help others.  Giving to your church and those in need as well as never missing the opportunity of helping others is a core action for self fulfillment for all of us.

Years ago one of our greatest blessings led us to support housing for those in need.  HFH is a great service organization that can bring a lot of people together to work for an exciting common goal: To eliminate poverty housing throughout the world. There are many churches and groups in the CSRA who have sponsored building a Habitat house. The spiritual rewards have been inestimable.

Back near the inception of the CSRA chapter of Habitat I was honored to be president. During my time I was able to go to Americus and meet Millard Fuller as well as attend many celebrations of Habitat blessings that were called "Habitations".  Millard had a pure and simple plan: Eliminate poverty housing from the face of the earth. He used easy to understand phrases such as "The Theology of the Hammer" and "The Excitement Is Building".

Of course being a songwriter I had to try to put words with music. The result turned out to be "The Excitement Is Building". It was published and many chapters used the song including choral arrangements and conversion to French.

Here's what Millard said in his book "The Theology of the Hammer". I had the opportunity to go to Columbus, Ohio and help with the 15th annual celebration of Habitat. For a goober from Georgia the morning sound check at the Columbus Civic Center was an E-Ticket experience. That night 1000's of Habitaters sang the song.  Truly, truly giving all the glory to God.

As a final note on Habitat for Humanity, it is one of the few things that has near equal participation with all political and religious persuasions.

 Guitar Instruction Series:  the four volume "Contemporary Guitar: The Gospel According To Nortune" is in the process of being converted to PDF and freely offered online. Now available:   Part 1 "The Basics", Part 2 "Lead and Improvisation".  Part 3 is mainly related to "Reading Musical Notation" which is not published here on the web because it mostly needs a teacher. Part 4 includes several studies on Advanced Musical Structures one of which has to do with "Guitar and the Nature of Music". If you're interested in "how it all works" its a good read.

 Guitar Lessons:  Nortunes is not offering guitar lessons at this time although special cases are considered. There are many websites as well as teachers in the community. Send an e-mail for some suggestions or questions of learning how to play a particular style.


 
CD/MP3 Recordings The current Nortune catalog of CD's and Mp3 collections including fingerpicking and vocal originals. The entire "Nortune Fried Picking" MP3 collection is  here.
Guitar Instruction Manuals Contemporary guitar instruction including: "The Basics",  "Lead and Improvisation",  "Musical Notation", and  "Advanced Musical Structures".
Private Guitar Lessons
 (Evans, GA Area)
Private guitar lessons using  the "first comes the song"  approach.  Every song has at least one good lesson and the student learns what he/she wants to play.  Send and e-mail. 
Links Favorite links for guitar and digital recording made obsolete by just googling any topic.
Recording Home/garage studio. Best advice is record, tweak, record, tweak, record, tweak... more to come. If you have any questions send me an e-mail.
Songwriting Create a hook then write, rewrite, write, rewrite, write, rewrite... more to come.  If you have any questions send me an e-mail.