For the next decade Houghton was a fixture on the New England booking scene with jobs at college middle agents Pretty Polly and then with Tim Collins. He struck out on his own in 1985 when he and fellow agent and wife Andrea Sabata founded booking agency Skyline Music. "One day the band Foghat basically fell into our laps when a friend with almost no experience became the manager," he says. "Suddenly I found myself booking the acts that were my idols growing up artists like The Outlaws, and the late Rick Danko and Ben Orr."

But over the last ten years Skyline Music has grown into much more than a boutique agency. Their eclectic touring roster now ranges from newest signing George Winston whose current Windham Hill CD was just certified Gold to such developing artists as Victor Wooten, Seven Nations, and Terrance Simien. Other mainstays on the Skyline roster include Johnny Winter, Merl Saunders, The Four Bitchin' Babes, Jesse Colin Young, and John Sebastian.

"We have built an incredible team." Says Houghton. "Portland based Mark Lourie, our Vice-President of Development, has been with Skyline for almost 8 years handling the West. Atlanta based Barron Ruth joined us a year ago, but his progress in the South has been so b that we've added much of the Midwest to his territory", says Houghton. Another competitive advantage for Skyline is it's b presence in the Performing Arts Center community. Andrea Sabata handles Arts buyers in the East and Midwest, and Charlie Lochtefeld does the West from our office in Santa Cruz. "No other full service contemporary music agency dedicates two additional agents to these unique and active buyers," states Houghton. Support staff Amy Nelson and Melanie Hansen round out the team.

"I often think that our greatest strength as a company is that none of us ever worked at the major agencies," says Houghton. "Consequently we are proud to work hard for every date and dollar for our artists. We have no sense of entitlement." In fact, the recent addition of perennial touring and recording favorite George Winston to their roster is an incredible validation of Skyline's uniquely personalized and aggressive approach.

What does the future hold for Skyline Music? "We are always thinking about growth and ways we can serve our clients better," states Houghton. "Our web site www.skylineonline.com was one of the first to offer up-to-date artist availabilties and the ability to make offers online. And the Internet provides almost unlimited opportunities for doing business better as well as music marketing and fan interaction. One of our jobs is to help our artists navigate in this new medium." Skyline brokered several Internet deals last year including a large digital distribution agreement for record label Relix with EMusic.

"Most of all, we are determined to maintain our high standards of service for our clients which is made possible by our low 5 to 1 artist to agent ratio," concludes Houghton. "So our growth will be deliberate, and as always we'll choose our clients carefully."

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