Iron Mike Norton is an American blues musician who is most known as a slide guitar player. Born in Fort Gordon, Georgia, he grew up in Springfield, Missouri

Springfield, Missouri

Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...

 and St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

.

He now resides in the small town of Gainesville, Missouri

Gainesville, Missouri

Gainesville is a city in Ozark County, Missouri, United States. The population was 632 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ozark County .Gainesville is the current home of blues recording artist Iron Mike Norton.-Geography:...

. Prior to 2005 he toured and performed as Michael Shaun Norton.

Technique

Iron Mike is best known for his slide playing, having developed a technique pioneered by his mentor Sonny Landreth

Sonny Landreth

Sonny Landreth is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, but soon after, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi, before settling in Lafayette, Louisiana...

 where he fret

Fret

A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...

s notes and plays chords behind the slide. Norton is also known for employing right hand finger tapping techniques in combination with his slide work.

Mike's started his professional career as a session bass player in the Tampa Bay area heavy metal scene but eventually moved on to work as a roadie for several country music acts including Mel McDaniel

Mel McDaniel

Mel McDaniel was an American country music artist. His chart making years were mainly the 1980s and his hits from that era include "Louisiana Saturday Night", "Big Ole Brew", "Stand Up", the Number One "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On", "I Call It Love", "Stand on It", and a remake of Chuck Berry's...

 in the early 1990s. From 1995 to 1997 Mike was the lead vocalist for the King Eagle Award nominated country rock act Ozark.

In 1997 Mike met Sonny Landreth and began to learn slide guitar. Through his personal and professional friendship with Landreth, Mike developed his slide guitar technique that included many of the techniques pioneered by Sonny.

Iron Mike is currently considered one of the foremost practitioners of Landreth's fret behind the slide techniques.

Solo

Iron Mike Norton has released at three albums:

• Sledge (2007), GFO Records
• Live Free or Die (2009), GFO Records
• Dirty South (2011), GFO Records

Iron Mike released several out of print albums as Michael Shaun Norton:

• Spooky & the Blue Voodoo Tribe (2000), B&M Records
• Red Rum (2002), B&M Records
• Carpe Noctum (2003), B&M Records
• Hellhound (2005), B&M Records