Tom Ball, Peter ‘Madcat’ Ruth and Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward join me on episode 139 for a retrospective on Walter Horton.
Walter was likely born on April 6th, 1918, in Horn Lake, Mississippi.
He probably made his first recordings in 1939 with Little Buddy Doyle but it wasn’t until the early 1950s that he started recording regularly. After making some early cuts under the name Mumbles, he made numerous recordings as a sideman in the 1950s, including the blues harmonica classics Easy and Walking By Myself.
Walter enjoyed a resurgence on the back of the blues boom in the 1960s, touring the US and Europe and playing with various bands including the Willie Dixon Allstars, Fleetwood Mac and Johnny Winter.
In the 1970s he made some more albums under his own name, including with the Johnny Nicholas band, and also appeared on the Grammy winning Muddy Waters album, I’m Ready.
Big Walter played up until his death on December 8th, 1981, and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame the following year. And without doubt left his legacy as one of the greatest blues harmonica players of all time.
Links:
Discography by Stefan Wirz: https://www.wirz.de/music/horton.htm
Information on Big Walter: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/horton-walter
Bob Corritore photo gallery: https://bobcorritore.com/photos/big-walter-horton-photos/
Videos:
Hard Hearted Woman, States Records: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89P8ZMfTHfk
Solo recording from Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6RkAlhX7fg
Walter ‘appearing’ in The Blues Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUUyFrHERpU
Walter Horton discusses using his hands in Ronnie Earl’s apartment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX0Eu5Lqexc
Playing That Aint It & Down Yonder with Ronnie Earl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FghNW94YUaM&t=90s
Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com
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Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ
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Peter ‘Madcat’ Ruth, Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward and Tom Ball join me for a retrospective on Walter Horton
Madcat was last on the podcast on episode 12 of the podcast in June 2020 and met Walter when he had three lessons with him in 1967 and 1968
Mudcat played bass in some live shows with Walter towards the end of his career and spent quite a bit of time with him
Tom Ball was last on the podcast in January 2022 and authored the book: ‘Sourcebook of Little Walter/Big Walter Licks for Blues Harmonica’
Tom saw a Walter perform numerous times in the mid to late 1960s in Los Angeles
Many people have Big Walter as their favourite blues harmonica player, and Madcat says Willie Dixon said he was the best
It’s not entirely clear when Walter was born, but it was probably 1918
Mudcat was involved with the benefit that raised money for Walter’s gravestone, and 1918 was put onto that
Likely born in Dooleys Island, Horn Lake, Mississippi
He reputedly learnt harmonica from the age of five and performed on the street from a young age
Moved to Memphis when still quite young
There is a credit to ‘Shakey Walter’ recording with the Memphis Jug Band in 1927, but it is extremely unlikely to be Walter, who would have been less than ten years old then
The discography information used in the podcast was put together by Stefan Wirz
Probably Will Shade on the Memphis Jug Band recordings although Walter did play with the Memphis Jug Band sometimes
First recording by Walter was probably with Little Buddy Doyle from 1939
Walter made various claims to have recorded on the Memphis Jug Band to Tom and other tall stories he told to Mudcat
Didn’t have a lot of commercial success or make much money through his music career
Most of his work came as a sideman
Discography shows that he didn’t record through the 1940s and may have had some health issues, or just a day job
Avoided the draft to serve in World War II, possibly due to his eye problems
May have spent some time in a prison camp and did drive a taxi and a tractor as jobs for a while
He had an aversion to have a flash photographer take a picture of him
Recorded for Sun Records in 1951, under the name of Little Walter, although that song wasn’t released until later
Likely called himself Little Walter before he knew about the Little Walter, or at least before Little Walter was famous
The other names he was known under was Shakey Walter and Mumbles, names which he didn’t appreciate
The Mumbles name was probably given to him by the RPM records label, which released some fine early cuts from Walter
It was unlikely he gained much recognition from these early RPM releases as they didn’t include his actual name, just Mumbles
Did a lot of work as a sideman through the 1950s including with Johnny Shines in 1953, which Madcat and Tom are big fans of
Relocated to Chicago from Memphis in 1953 and spent around a year as the harmonica player in the Muddy Waters band, losing his place with Muddy due to being unreliable
Had issues with alcohol abuse
According to Walter he lost the spot in Muddy’s band because he was sick but Muddy says he took a better paying gig and so Muddy let him go
Two great songs he recorded with Muddy were She’s Alright and Sad Sad Day
Released an album under his own name in 1954: Walter Horton and his Combo
Doing mostly sideman work in the 1950s, probably because he was quite shy and didn’t want to be a frontman
Walking By Myself recorded with Jimmy Rogers in 1956 which wasn’t rehearsed much
The other song recorded at the same session has a very similar solo
Easy, recorded in 1953 with Jimmy DeBerry is another all time classic blues harmonica song
Southern Woman recording with Tommy Brown
Worked with pianist Sunnyland Slim on numerous occasions, partly down to the influence of Willie Dixon, who was a big fan of Walter
The lessons Madcat had with Walter in 1966/7 after having heard him on the album: Chicago The Blues Today
Madcat had his youth group hire Walter and Johnny Shines (and a young Iggy Pop on drums) and that was the first time he heard him play live
It was from the gig that Madcat heard Walter gave lessons and he tried to contact him several times before arranging the first one
Took a second lesson about six months later and another six months after that
Madcat tells how Walter would show him how to play something without much explanation
Mudcat tells of how Walter showed how to ‘break in’ a harmonica by breathing cigarette smoke through it (not recommended!)
At that time Walter kept his harmonicas and mic in a leather doctors bag, with the harmonicas stored in a haphazard way
The mic Walter had at that time was a bottom of the line Shure high impedance mic
Years later Madcat saw him with a different mic every time
When Mudcat played with him at the end of his career Walter would be meticulous in wrapping his cable and mic when tidying it away
Discography shows that he didn’t record anything between 1957 and 1963 before enjoying a resurgence during the blues boom of the mid-1960s
Travelled to Europe to play in the American Folk Blues Festivals on four occasions
Played with the Willie Dixon Allstar band
Released The Soul of the Blues Harmonica under his own name in 1964, which contained his first version of La Cucaracha
The Soul of the Blues Harmonica came out on Argo Records, a division of Chess Records, so the Chess brothers had become interested in Walter
The Soul of the Blues Harmonica had quite a range of genres, so wasn’t just blues
The song Christine was named after his daughter
Recorded at the same party in Germany as Sonny Boy Williamson II, with the tracks from both appearing on the Solo Harp album
Tom had read that the only recording of Walter playing chromatic harmonica is on the Solo Harp album
Mudcat says he did play chromatic and Kim Wilson used to tease him that he never used the button
Mudcat says he played chromatic on one gig they played together but he didn’t usually bring it with him
Charlie Musselwhite appears with Walter on the album: Chicago The Blues Today, which was an influential album to a lot of harmonica players (Junior Wells also on the album)
Walter toured Europe with Big Mama Thornton
Recorded an album with the original Fleetwood Mac
Made an album with Carey Bell in 1972, with Carey Bell something of a protege of Walters
Walter claimed to Tom to have taught harmonica to most of the great players, including in an interview where he discusses doing so with Sonny Boy II
Sonny Boy II was older than Walter, probably by six years, and they did know each other when they were in Memphis
The 1972 album recorded with the Hot Cottage band has some great tracks
Album An Offer You Can’t Refuse, a double-sided album with Paul Butterfield. Issued in 1972 by Red Lightning from two separate recording sessions in 1964 by Swedish radio: Horton from the Sutherland Hotel, Chicago. Butterfield from Big Johns, Chicago
Walter worked a lot with Johnny Nicholas later in the 1970s, including on the Fine Cuts album in 1978
Played on the 1978 Muddy Water’s album, I’m Ready, which won a Grammy
Story of Johnny Nicholas travelling over the border into Canada when Walter was carrying a gun
Appears in the 1980 movie, The Blues Brothers, although it’s not actually him playing, it’s Joe Berson, who was a student of Walter
Walter’s playing wasn’t used in The Blues Brothers because he was erratic, and not getting the takes down
Was going to be Muddy Waters band in The Blues Brothers but Muddy was sick and couldn’t do it
Mudcat tells of a film made, which wasn’t released (available on YouTube) where Walter is interviewed in Ronnie Earls apartment
More on Walter’s aversion to cameras and the impact this had on The Blues Brothers movie
Another concern with the camera was that he would be fined if the Musicians Union saw a picture of him playing
Played some live concerts with Mudcat on bass, the last one of which was captured and released as the Live At The Knickerbocker album in 1980, for which Walter didn’t receive any money (nor the band)
Mudcat says playing bass in the band with Walter was one of the biggest thrills he had in his musical career
Mudcat tells us what it was like to play with Walter, who he describes as ‘charming’
The time Walter played a gig sitting with someone he knew in the audience
Walter wasn’t a strong band leader, when playing with Mudcat at least, who just had to work out what Walter started playing
The album with Mudcat was recorded just one year before he died, but Walter was still in good shape then
Mudcat tells a story when Walter turned up for a gig all beat-up and Walter told him whenever he came back from touring his son would beat him up and steal his money
Walter lived in a violent neighbourhood and Mudcat was advised not to walk around there
Was a quiet man who let his playing do the talking
Sometimes he didn’t feel like playing and he refused to do so and sometimes would do varied songs and he was full of music
Walter’s style of harmonica playing was that he played with the melody, whereas Little Walter played across the melody. So they approached the structure of the song differently
Didn’t always play a straight twelve bar, so band would have to watch him to keep the song structure together
Tom’s Sourcebook of Walter Horton licks was just to tab out Walter’s playing, and didn’t compare the approaches of Big and Little Walter
Both Big and Little Walter were tongue blockers and Tom is a pucker player so didn’t feel qualified to teach their tongue blocking techniques
Walter did plenty of singing in his career and he certainly could carry a tune
Sang with the live shows with Mudcat and Walter would often sing through the harmonica mic
Once again check out Bob Corritore’s website to see some great photos of Walter
Favourite songs of the panel
Madcat likes the songs recorded with Johnny Shines, Walking By Myself and his first position playing
Tom also loves the songs with Johnny Shines and Hard Hearted Woman
Walter made a lot of recordings through his career
Madcat also loves all the songs from Chicago The Blues Today
Mudcat likes Stockyard Blues recorded with Floyd Jones
Mudcat and Jerry Portnoy saw the best live show of Walter
Another couple of stories from Mudcat on Walter’s strong aversion to cameras
Another similarity to Sonny Boy II who also didn’t like to be known due to the alleged stabbing he had committed in defending himself
Neil’s favourite songs (besides Walking By Myself and Easy) are Blues In The Morning and Walter’s Swing
Died on December 8th, 1981, probably 63 years old (depending on birth year), after returning from a European tour
There are rumours he may have been murdered following a robbery
Walter is buried in Restvale Cemetary, Worth, Illinois, with Mudcat helping raise the money for a headstone from a benefit concert
Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1982
Always played Hohner Marine Bands, and there is one etched onto his gravestone
Played a Fender Bassman and possibly an Acstatic crystal mic when performing with Mudcat towards the end of his career
Was using a different mic each time Tom saw him play: sometimes a Shure SM57 or 58 and a large bullet mic
When Tom saw him play in the west of the US Walter was mainly using a Fender Princeton amp
Seemed to be using a different rig each time Tom saw him, but his tone was always the same great tone
Mudcat knows he used a Blackface Princeton, now owned by Sugar Ray Norcia
Would sometimes use both a vocal mic and harmonica mic to play harmonica through
The great players sounded great no matter which gear they were using
Madcat also saw him seeming to play with a different amp and mic each time and Walter asked Madcat to sit him with him on several occasions
Had huge hands and big lung capacity, so his body was a major part in his sound
Could play his amazing vibrato with an acoustic and a bullet mic
Didn’t use any effects pedals
Embouchre was tongue block
Madcat cites Willie Dixon as stating Big Walter was the best blues harmonica player
Tom says Walter is one of the big five harmonica players, alongside Little Walter, Sonny Boy I and II and Sonny Terry, who have influenced every blues harmonica player since
Mudcat says you have to hear him to understand, and that words don’t do it justice
Mudcat shares a couple of the phrases Walter used a lot: “This ain’t something I heard, this is something I know”, and (when parking) “Just go back until you hear glass rattle”
