(FORTUNE Small Business) – The death of rockabilly cult hero Hasil Adkins in April was a sad event for independent music, especially for Norton Records. Adkins was the cornerstone of the label, which was founded in Brooklyn by Miriam Linna, 49, and her husband, Billy Miller, 51. The pair ran a music magazine in the 1980s, and in 1986 they published a piece about Adkins, a West Virginia guitarist who had recorded about 15 singles in the 1950s The response to the article was so overwhelming that Linna and Miller decided to form the label--named after Ed Norton of The Honeymooners--to resurrect Adkins's music.

Many of Adkins's lo-fi recordings had never been compiled or released. "We made 500 copies and prayed that it would sell," Linna says. "We're proud to say it's still in print on vinyl." (CD versions are due out in early 2006.) The couple also put out unreleased 1958 demos from Esquerita, the piano player and singer who taught Little Richard how to jump, shake, and thump, along with albums from English blues artists the Pretty Things, New York City punk heroes the Dictators, and many more. Says Linna: "It's all killer and no filler."