Mr. Bolton has been a band director in Oregon for 53 years, beginning his career at Knappa High School in 1966. In 1968 Sam Barlow High School opened and he was hired and spent 31 years teaching there before he retired. He then directed the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band at Mt. Hood Community College, taught band and music education at Warner Pacific College, and supervised student teachers and taught music education classes at Portland State University. His Sam Barlow High School bands performed many times at the Oregon Music Educators Conference, All- Northwest Conference, WIBC and the International Society for Music Education. His bands won 18 league championships and placed in the top five for 14 consecutive years at the OSAA State Band Championships, including two state titles. The Jazz Bands placed many times in festivals in Oregon and Washington. In 1994, he was selected as the Outstanding Teacher in the Gresham-Barlow School District, he was named Oregon's Mr. Holland at the premier of the movie of "Mr. Holland's Opus". Mr. Bolton has received the American Bandmasters Associations Citation of Excellence, and in 2002 Band Director of the Year by the Oregon Band Directors Association. The Oregon Music Educators Association honored him in 2008 with the John McManus Distinguished Teacher Award and In 2012 the Exemplary Service to Music Education Award. He has directed the Alaska All-State Band, taught many summers at the music institute in Hawaii and five times co-directed the band for the Oregon Ambassadors of Music tour of Europe. In the spring of 2015 he directed an International honor band in China. He conducts the Tuba Christmas every December in Portland. For over 40 years he performed with the Oregon Symphony on tuba. For the past 19 years he has been the Chair for the OSAA Band/Orchestra State Championships.