Kearney Whitsell Barton was an American record producer active in Seattle, Washington, from the 1950s to the 2000s.
13 Facts About Kearney Barton
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Particularly known for his 1950s and 1960s-era recordings of garage rock bands, Barton recorded many Pacific Northwest musicians such as The Fleetwoods, The Ventures, The Wailers, The Sonics, The Frantics, The Kingsmen, Quincy Jones, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Guitar, and Dave Lewis.
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Kearney Barton was born in Missouri, and moved with his family to Seattle in 1945.
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In early 1958, Kearney Barton was hired at KNBX as an engineer, and soon after Kearney Barton renamed the station Northwest Recorders and began leasing the studio for his own productions.
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Kearney Barton was the engineer of the Fleetwood's number-one hit "Mr Blue".
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Around this time Kearney Barton recorded groups such as The Wailers, The Frantics, and The Ventures.
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Kearney Barton did some sessions for local label Topaz Records, and the label's financial debt to the studio ended in Kearney Barton's receiving ownership of it.
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In 1961, Kearney Barton moved to a new studio and founded a new recording company, called Audio Recording, Inc.
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Kearney Barton continued recording garage bands local to the Northwest, including The Sonics and The Kingsmen.
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Kearney Barton recorded local funk musicians such as the Black On White Affair, who were reissued on Light in the Attic Records' compilation, Wheedle's Groove.
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Kearney Barton recorded into the 2000s, continuing to use vintage equipment such as Neumann vacuum-tube microphones due to their characteristic sound quality.
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Kearney Barton fell ill and moved to a care facility in 2011, and died in January 2012.
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In 2020, Light in the Attic issued a compilation of music produced by Kearney Barton, culled from the University of Washington archives.