Little Ricky and little sister Gail, East Hardwick, 1949
Rick's mother, Dorothy Norcross wearing the white coat near the bow of the Ti, was secretary to the director of Shelburne Museum from 1951 to 1961. Rick is standing just to her left in the flap hat. He lived for most of those years upstairs over the Toy Shop on the museum grounds.
The New Walden Folk Singers on a Florida Tour visit Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven. From the left, Rick Norcross, Southern Belle, Tom Azarian, Southern Belle and Bud Boydston, 1963
The New Walden Folk Singers on WCAX Television in Burlington, 1963
This 1934 "stem wind" GMC farm truck made the trip from East Hardwick to Buchannon, West Virginia in January of 1964
From East Hardwick, Vermont to the Newport Folk Festival and on to Lake Webster, Indiana in a 1933 International. Summer of 1964.
"The Other Room," Rick's first coffeehouse, Lakeland, Florida, November 1964
Rick bought a one way boat ticket to London in June of 1965 at the Vermont Transit Travel Agency on St. Paul Street in Burlington (see the trolley track photo in the bus archives) for $235 to seek his fame and fortune playing music in England.
Rick with the Natterjacks, Stevenage, England, 1965
Rick with custom-made John Bailey 18-String Guitar, Tampa, 1966. John Bailey of London built this one of a kind guitar as a gift for Rick following a 1965 performance at The Stevenage Folk Festival in England.
Bailey guitars were also played by Bert Jansch and John Renbourne of Pentangle, among others. 1965
Derek Sarjeant's Assembly Rooms in Surbiton, South London, was one of Britain's largest and most popular music clubs and one of Rick's favorite haunts. This photo was taken following a rousing performance with a group of England's top jazz musicians on January 19, 1966. Rear, Left to Right, Derek Sarjeant, Diz Disley, Johnny Parker, Peggy Phango, Laurie Chescoe, Sugar Bill Robinson. Front, Rick Norcross.
Returning from performing in Holland, February 1966
Rick was booked for two years as part of the "All-American All-Star Caravan," a variety show of entertainers that played to tens of thousands of college students on Daytona Beach, Florida during the Spring Break invasion. The troupe would perform concerts during the day from two flat bed trucks set up as bandstands, complete with PA systems and palm-frond roofs, that would move up and down the beach over Easter Week. They would play at a coffee house in the evening and then on Friday night, a concert at the Daytona Beach Band Shell. Rick became good friends with John "Knocky" Parker and Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery, 1936 members of "The Light Crust Doughboys," the Texas western swing band that launched Bob Wills, 1966.
Rick plays at Polk Junior College, Winter Haven, FL, 1966
Rick plays at his "18th String Coffee House & Music Emporium," Tampa, 1967
Publicity Photo, Tampa 1967
Publicity photo, "Toucan Torture," Tampa 1967
Rick signed a music publishing contract with Carolyn Hester's Crazy Creek Music Co. in the summer of 1967. Payment was this 1937 Packard Hearse ($600), Burlington Waterfront, 1968
Tampa Tribune photo shoot, Florida Ave, Tampa, 1973
Another Tampa Tribune photo taken for a 1973 story from the roof of Tampa General Hospital looking back at a then sky scrapper-less downtown Tampa from the waterfront.
Rick & Tampa multi-instrumentalist and singer Pete Yorkunas take a London stroll on tour in 1974
A gathering of musicians at "El Rancho Tedioso," Rick's Tampa digs, 1975
Rick with custom-made Paul Buskirk Black D-45 Guitar, Tampa, 1976
Publicity Photo, 1952 Nash on Nash, 1978
Rick and The Bottom Dollar Band open at the Flynn for Hank Williams Drifting Cowboys, 1978
Rick and Leo Roy perform at Hunt's on lower main Street in Burlington, 1978
Publicity Photo Taken on the 4th of July on Vermont's most famous Main Street before construction of the Church Street Marketplace, 1979
During the summers of 1979 and 1980, Rick hosted "The Ever-Popular Rick Norcross and his Wonder Guitar Show," a live studio audience 16 week series every Saturday at 5:30 pm on WKDR-AM Radio in Plattsburgh, NY. The exposure this radio show provided enabled Rick to form The Bottom Dollar Band and keep busy riding the ferry boat between Vermont and New York on the way to bookings. That's Lake Champlain Transportation deck hand Earl Rood on the job.
Before FM radio came along, this little daytime AM country music station, operating out of studios upstairs above "The Steakman Restaurant," was the most popular station in the entire Champlain Valley.
Pepsi promo shot, Rick and the Ink Spots at the Florida State Fair, 1979
Rick and the Bottom Dollar Band open for Jimmy C. Newman & Cajun Country at the Flynn Theatre, 1980
Florida State Fair, 1980
Rick, publicity photo, Tampa, 1982
Sunshine Theater, Florida State Fair - from left: Nancy Johnson, Rick, Dana Lavigne, Bob Rippy. February, 1983
Bottom Dollar Band and audience at the "Fairly Live" album recording session in Shelburne, VT, 1983. Leo is to the right of Rick.
Tampa Ramblers, from the left, James Pullen, Rick Norcross, Morris Kennedy, Gigi Grenier, Gary Doyle, 1984
At the Florida State Fair with Hank Thompson, 1984
Rick plays the Dairy Festival at the Enosburg Opera House, 1984
Pre-tour bus Ramblers logo circa 1985
Rick & Bob Rippy perform on the Tampa CBS Television affiliate WTVT, 1986
Publicity Photo, Tampa 1986
Rick and the late Fred Tuttle, star of the hit Vermont movie "Man With A Plan," at The Eastern States Exposition, West Springfield, Mass. on Vermont Day, 1996
Burlington's Waterfront July 3, 1998
ABC Recording artist Tommy Overstreet and Rick in the bus at the Green Mountain Chew Chew in 2003. The performance was a reunion of several members Overstreet's Nashville Express tour band, Bob Rippy & Smiley Roberts. Rick and T.O. wrote a song together that was chosen as the Pick Hit on the Best Country Album of the Week by Billboard Magazine on one of T.O.'s national recordings in 1971
The Ramblers have performed at five WOKO Country Club Music Festivals at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds, Vermont's largest and best country music event of the entire year. This shot from the stage shows a portion of the 10,000-plus country music fans who turned out to hear Brad Paisley, Terri Clark, Craig Morgan and Rick & The Ramblers, 2004
Rick & Karen at a Meet and Greet following the Ramblers WOKO Country Club Music Festival performance, 2004
Rick gets longtime friend Holly Miller up on stage at her Birthday Party aboard the Northern Lights Cruise Boat on Lake Champlain to sing "On the Road Again" to her husband Bobby Miller, 2004
Rick and Shauna are pictured in tens of thousands of State of Vermont Cultural Heritage Month brochures, 2005
Rick at the Green Mountain Chew Chew Food & Music Festival, 2006
Rick, Rachel & Chris at the Lyndon State College concert for Catamount Arts Council, 2006
Rick & Senator Patrick Leahy on the Rambler bus following an Emmylou Harris concert at Shelburne Museum, 2007
Rick at Elmore State Park, 2007
Rick and Charlie at Lake St. Catherine
Rick at Lake St. Catherine