Norbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. Putnam grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry Mancini, Linda Ronstadt, J. J. Cale, Tony Joe White, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Michael Card, Ian & Sylvia and Bobby Goldsboro. As a producer, Putnam was responsible for copious work on Nashville's non-country music output from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. His credits include major works that established the popularity of performers such as Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Dan Fogelberg, Brewer & Shipley, Pousette Dart Band, Donovan, John Hiatt, J.J. Cale, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Putnam was instrumental in the wave of modernization of many recording studios in Nashville, and laid the groundwork for the city's growth and widening it's appeal to pop/rock artist and virtually all other styles of music.