Norman’s Rare Guitars – one of the world’s pre-eminent and most famous vintage guitar dealers – is to be the subject of an upcoming documentary that will receive its general release on Netflix.
Set to air “very soon”, the documentary will presumably tell the story of how Norman Harris, one of the world’s foremost experts on rare and vintage guitar gear, set up his eponymous store and turned it into a globally recognized institution.
The documentary aired for the first time earlier this year at the Calabasas Film Festival, but until now a general release for wider viewers hadn’t been confirmed. A teaser clip – which is soundtracked by some stellar music penned by Michael Lemmo – reveals Netflix will be the film’s official home.
Harris first opened his store in 1975, and in the ensuing decades, the walls of Norman’s Rare Guitars have been frequented by some of the biggest names in the world of guitar, from Joe Bonamassa, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Richie Sambora, Josh Smith, Post Malone and countless more.
The store is equal parts a vintage guitar retailer and an influential force on the internet, and is behind a hugely successful YouTube channel that hosts a long-running 'Guitar of the Day' series – which demos some rare gems from the vintage world – and jams with big-name and up-and-coming players.
Frankly, that it has now been deemed worthy of a fully fledged documentary comes as no surprise, nor the fact it’s been picked up by one of the biggest streaming services. And, to help tell the full story, Netflix will be rolling out the red carpet for some notable guest stars.
According to the teaser clip, Joe Bonamassa, Taylor Hawkins, Kiefer Sutherland, Slash, Post Malone, Jeff Daniels, Lenny Kravitz, John Oates, Richie Sambora, Melissa Etheridge, Robbie Robertson, Machine Gun Kelly, Mike Campbell and plenty more are set to start in the documentary.
As this is a mix of active artists and those no longer with us, we imagine a large proportion of these features will be made up of archive footage cribbed from either YouTube or Norm’s personal collection.
Having said that, given the scale of the documentary, don’t be surprised if some of those artists also feature for some more up-to-date, talking head-style soundbites.
A full trailer, which will hopefully shed a bit more light on what the documentary will actually entail, is “coming soon”. The film is directed by Devin Dilmore, and produced by Dilmore and Sarah Edwards. Guitar fan Kiefer Sutherland is badged as the Executive Producer, alongside Song Pictures and Columbia Tristar Pictures.
Visit the Norman’s Rare Guitars Documentary website to find out more.
