Big Walter

about

Born Walter Horton in Horn Lake, Mississippi, he was playing a harmonica by the time he was five years old. In his early teens, he lived in Memphis, Tennessee and claimed that his earliest recordings were done there in the late 1920s with the Memphis Jug Band, although there is no documentation of it, and some blues researchers have stated that this story was most likely fabricated by Horton. (He also claimed to have taught some harmonica to Little Walter and the original Sonny Boy Williamson, although these claims are unsubstantiated, and in the case of the older Williamson, somewhat suspect). As with many of his peers, he spent much of his career existing on a meager income and living with constant discrimination in a segregated United States of America. In the 1930s he played with various blues performers across the Mississippi delta region. It is generally accepted that his first recordings were made in Memphis backing guitarist Little Buddy Doyle on Doyle's recordings for the Okeh and Vocalion labels in 1939. These recordings were in the acoustic duo format popularized by Sleepy John Estes with his harmonicist Hammie Nixon, among others. On these recordings, Horton's style is not yet fully realized, but there are clear hints of what is to come. He eventually stopped playing the harp for a living due to poor health, and worked mainly outside of the music industry in the 1940s. By the early 1950s, he was playing music again, and was among the first to record for Sam Phill

top songs

albums

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Never Ever Land, Vol. 3

Epitaph For A Legend

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Never Ever Land - 83 Texan Nuggets From International Artists Records 1965-1970

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Stompin' 1

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Never Ever Land: 83 Texan Nuggets from International Artists Records 1965-1970

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Rattlesnake Shake Blues N' Rhythm

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Kogar's Jungle 45's of the Week

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Blues Masters, Vol. 6: Blues Originals

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Blowing The Fuse - 30 R&B Classics that rocked the Jukebox in 1956

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Gonna Rock The Blues

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Joan Selects, Volume 13

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House Rockin' 1950s Rhythm & Blues, Vol. 4

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