Libraries Media Center

Kearney Barton Collection

This page has moved! Update your links: http://guides.lib.washington.edu/content.php?pid=228051&sid=2057609

Seattle recording engineer Kearney Barton has been crafting sounds since the early 1950s. His portfolio arcs over genres: rock, opera, jazz, folk, bluegrass, classical, cabaret, gospel, and even the occasional accordion-infused Nordic novelty song. Most significantly, Barton is recognized with shaping the “Northwest Sound.” As Peter Blecha writes: "Seattle's Kearney Barton is the man whose audio engineering work can be credited with forging the powerful aural esthetic that became widely known as the 'original Northwest Sound'" (historlink.org).

As a result of his many decades of work, Barton amassed thousands of analog reel-to-reel recordings at his home studio. In April 2010, the Libraries Media Center received a grant from the American Music Partnership of Seattle (AMPS)* to preserve and describe a portion of these recordings. Thanks to the work of UW students Alex Burks, Kim Cannady, Ross Fuqua, John George, Peter Leonard, Josh Peterson, and Dan Trager, a large portion of this collection is now searchable here.**

If you have questions about the Kearney Barton Collection, please contact us.

The Kearney Barton Collection is part of the Media Center's Puget Sounds regional music project.

*AMPS is funded by a generous grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and administered by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington.

**Dr. Peter Leonard gets full credit for the behind the scenes and gratis development of this database.