From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Apr 6, 2003  1:13 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Walter Horton

WALTER HORTON (By Shaun Mather)

A.k.a. Shakey Horton and Big Walter Horton

Born 6 April 1917, Horne Lake, Mississippi
Died 8 December 1981, Chicago, Illinois

You can't be a bad lad if you're nickname is Shakey, although I think 
mine comes without the "e". The similarity ends there though, as by
his teens Walter Horton was an exceptional harmonicist whilst all I 
could play, was truant. As with many of the blues greats, Horton was 
born in Mississippi and ended up in Chicago via Memphis. Actually, 
Horn Lake, Mississippi is on the fringes of the Memphis city limits. 

At the age of five he began playing harmonica and by his late teens 
was playing for tips in Handy Park, Memphis alongside the likes of 
Johnny Shines and Furry Lewis. Unsurprisingly he hooked up with Sam
Phillips who recorded two sides on Walter which were leased to Modern
Records. The first, "Mumbles", was a reference to a nickname that Walter
didn't really care for. Phillips then cut him with Jimmy DeBerry for the 
beautiful instrumental "Easy" which showcases Horton's mastery of the
blues harp. The record was issued as by Jimmy and Walter on Sun 180.

Why anyone would leave Memphis for Chicago is something I'll never
understand (plentiful work and Chess records can't compete with BBQ's
and Peabody ducks). But the journey was the next one Horton took, sometime
in 1953, where he found work in the clubs as both a band leader and a sideman
(firstly with Eddie Taylor). He became a top session man for Chess Records,
including sessions with Muddy Waters (replacing Junior Wells who'd been
drafted), Willie Dixon, and Otis Rush. A quiet unassuming guy, Horton had
his shares of trouble, being fired by Muddy for turning up drunk. His
popularity expanded in the 60's when white audiences found the blues and
he began travelling throughout the U.S. and Europe.

His first album, The Soul of Blues Harmonica Classics for Chess said it all
in the title and featured backing from Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy. By the
1970's he was working folk and blues festivals, chiefly with Willie Dixon's
Chicago Blues All Stars. In 1972 he teamed up with Carey Bell and recorded
some duets with him for Alligator, including the now legendary album, Big
Walter Horton with Carey Bell. He had a cameo role as a Maxwell Street
musician in the cult-classic 1980 movie, The Blues Brothers. He died the
following year.

The Japanese label P-Vine has just reissued his earliest work on the CD 
"Memphis Recordings 1951".