Biography: Walter Shakey Horton

Biography: Walter Shakey Horton
There were two "Walters" of the modern blues harmonica, namely Marion Little Walter Jacobs and Big Walter Horton, also known as Walter "Shakey" Horton, or simply Big Walter. Both men were titans of the harp during the same post-war interval in the blues chronology, but Little Walter's reputation was achieved very early on in his career (and his life was a lot shorter), while Big Walter Horton was a mainstay in the Chigago blues scene (and much earlier in Memphis) until 1981.
Both players possessed equally commanding techniques and incredible tones on the instrument, and both performed as frontmen and sidemen with some of the biggest blues stars in Chicago. So why was Big Walter much less well known ? In the following outline of Walter Horton's music and life, the article will demonstrate some of the facts surrounding his lack of commercial fame, and honor how large his musical contribution was.
BIG WALTER'S LIFE
Early Big Walter
Walter Horton was born in 1917 or 1918 in Horn Lake Mississippi, a little south of Memphis. He moved to Memphis when he was quite young and owned a harmonica while still a child. He began to play on the street for money in his youth, and later worked as a cook and iceman, but health problems convinced him ultimately that his future was in music. Tall and lanky, Walter would later acquire the designation "Big Walter", not only because of his appearance, but to distinguish him from the "other" Walter.
In Memphis he played in Handy Park off Beale St. and would perform with artists such as the Memphis Jug Band and Little Buddy Doyle who made recordings for the "race" labels in the 1920's and 1930's. Will Shade, who founded the Memphis Jug Band, was also a harmonica player, and he probably showed Walter some of his technique.
An interesting point is that the personnel listing for the Memphis Jug Band's second recording session in Chicago on June 9, 1927, credits one 'Shakey Walter' as the harmonica player on the title "Sunshine Blues". Walter would have been just 10 years of age at the time, making it unlikely that he is the musician to whom the listing refers, but more about this later.
In 1937, Walter went to Chicago where he played as a street musician, but he did not stay. He must have returned to Memphis soon after since he claimed that he played harmonica on guitarist Little Buddy Doyle's July 1939 sessions, recorded in Memphis, although the session details do not identify him positively. Hammie Nixon, who played harmonica with Sleepy John Estes, added confusion to this issue by saying that he had played on the same sessions. What is certain on those sides, is that the harmonica playing echoes strong overtones of John Lee Sonny Boy Williamson, who must have been making his influence felt. More about this later.
After returning south, Walter played at picnics, private parties, and in the jukes that were scattered throughout the delta. Around this time he met artists like Eddie Taylor (Taylor was living in Memphis by 1943), David Edwards, and Floyd Jones with whom he would record much later.
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