Gone....But Not Forgotten....Big Walter Horton!

Born: Apr 6, 1917 in Horn Lake, MS
Died: Dec 8, 1981 in Chicago, IL

Big Walter Horton, sometimes known as Shakey Walter Horton, is one of the most influential blues harmonica players of all time, and a particular pioneer in the field of amplified harmonica. He isn't as widely known as his fellow Chicago blues pioneers Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson II, due mostly to the fact that, as a rather shy, quiet individual, he never had much taste for leading his own bands or recording sessions. But his style was utterly distinctive, marked by an enormous, horn-like tone, virtuosic single-note lines, fluid phrasing, and an expansive sense of space. Horton's amplified harp work graced sides by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush, Johnny Shines, Tampa Red, and many others; he was frequently cited as an inspiration by younger players, and most accounts of his life mention a testimonial from legendary bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, who once called Horton "the best harmonica player I ever heard."

Horton was born April 6, 1917, in Horn Lake, MS, near Memphis. He began teaching himself to play the harmonica -- a gift from his father -- at age five, and moved with his mother to Memphis not long after, where he played in Handy Park (near the famed Beale Street) for tips. During his preteen years in the late '20s, he played -- and likely recorded at least a couple of sides -- with the Memphis Jug Band (as Shakey Walter); he also learned more about his craft from Will Shade, the Jug Band's main harmonica player, and Hammie Nixon, a cohort of Sleepy John Estes. Horton played wherever he could during the Depression -- dances, parties, juke joints, street corners -- and teamed up with the likes of Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Homesick James, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, among others; he also worked as a sideman in several touring blues bands, including those of Ma Rainey and Big Joe Williams, and spent his first brief period in Chicago. In 1939, he backed guitarist Charlie "Little Buddy" Doyle on some sessions for Columbia. Around the same time (according to Horton himself), he began to experiment with amplifying his harmonica, which if accurate may have made him the first to do so.

However, Horton largely dropped out of music for much of the '40s, working a variety of odd jobs to make ends meet (although he reportedly gave pointers to both Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II during this era). He returned to active duty in 1948, playing with the young B.B. King; the following year, he hooked up with bandleader Eddie Taylor. He recorded several sides for Sam Phillips in 1951, which were leased to Modern/RPM and credited to Mumbles (a nickname that particularly rankled Horton). The following year he recorded with longtime friend Johnny Shines, and was invited to settle permanently in Chicago by Eddie Taylor. In early 1953, not long after arriving, Horton got a chance to record with Muddy Waters, since regular harpman Junior Wells had been drafted into military service. Horton wound up joining Waters' band for most of the year, playing on cuts like "Forty Days and Forty Nights" and "Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)." However, he was fired by year's end for breaking band commitments -- either due to excessive drinking or playing too many side gigs, depending on the account.

By that point, however, Horton had established himself as a session man at Chess Records. He also returned to Memphis in 1953 to record several more sides for Sam Phillips' Sun label, along with guitarist Jimmy DeBerry; their single "Easy" ranks as one of the all-time classic harmonica instrumentals, and a Horton signature tune. Horton subsequently returned to Chicago, where he continued his session work for Chess (including several more with Waters) and recorded his own Chess singles under the auspices of producer Willie Dixon. He also cut sides for Cobra, States ("Hard Hearted Woman"), and Jewel during the '50s (again, mostly with Dixon producing), and turned in some of his greatest performances on Chicago blues classics like Jimmy Rogers' "Walking by Myself," Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You Baby," and Johnny Shines' "Evening Sun."

In 1964, Horton recorded his first full-length album, The Soul of Blues Harmonica, for Chess subsidiary Argo; it was produced by Dixon and featured Buddy Guy as a sideman, though it didn't completely capture what Horton could do. Two years later, Horton contributed several cuts to Vanguard's classic compilation Chicago/The Blues/Today!, Vol. 3, which did much to establish his name on a blues circuit that was thriving anew thanks to an infusion of interest from white audiences; it also showcased his pupil Charlie Musselwhite. In addition to his own recordings, the '60s found Horton working often in Jimmy Rogers' band, and performing and recording with the likes of Johnny Shines, J.B. Hutto, Johnny Young, Big Mama Thornton, Koko Taylor, Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, and the original version of Fleetwood Mac. Toward the end of the decade, he took on more pupils, most notably Peter "Madcat" Ruth and Carey Bell, the latter of whom recorded with his mentor on the 1973 Alligator LP Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell. Horton also became a regular on Willie Dixon's Blues All Stars package tours, which made their way through America and Europe over the '60s and '70s.

Despite the considerable acclaim he enjoyed from his peers, Horton never became a recording star on his own; he simply lacked the temperament to keep a band together for very long, preferring the sideman work where his shyness was less of a drawback. That, coupled with his often heavy drinking, meant that money was often scarce, and Horton kept working steadily whenever possible. After his 1973 album with Bell, he became a mainstay on the festival circuit, and often played at the open-air market on Chicago's legendary Maxwell Street, along with many other bluesmen. In 1977, he joined Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters on Winter's album I'm Ready, and during the same period recorded some material for Blind Pig, which later found release as the albums Fine Cuts and Can't Keep Lovin' You. Horton appeared in the Maxwell Street scene in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, accompanying John Lee Hooker. He died of heart failure on December 8, 1981, and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame the following year.

From: AMG
By: Steve Huey

Accolades To Sharon Olds!

Here is an open letter from the poet Sharon Olds to Laura Bush declining
the invitation to read and speak at the National Book Critics Circle Award
in Washington, DC. Feel free to forward it along if you feel more people
may want to read it.

Sharon Olds is one of most widely read and critically acclaimed
poets living in America today. Read to the end of the letter to experience her restrained, chilling eloquence.


Laura Bush
First Lady
The White House

Dear Mrs. Bush,

I am writing to let you know why I am not able to accept your kind
invitation to give a presentation at the National Book Festival on
September 24, or to attend your dinner at the Library of Congress or
the breakfast at the White House.

In one way, it's a very appealing invitation. The idea of speaking
at a festival attended by 85,000 people is inspiring! The
possibility of finding new readers is exciting for a poet in
personal terms, and in terms of the desire that poetry serve its
constituents--all of us who need the pleasure, and the inner and
outer news, it delivers.

And the concept of a community of readers and writers has long been
dear to my heart. As a professor of creative writing in the graduate
school of a major university, I have had the chance to be a part of
some magnificent outreach writing workshops in which our students
have become teachers. Over the years, they have taught in a variety
of settings: a women's prison, several New York City public high
schools, an oncology ward for children.

Our initial program, at a 900-bed state hospital for the severely
physically challenged, has been running now for twenty years,
creating along the way lasting friendships between young MFA
candidates and their students--long-term residents at the hospital
who, in their humor, courage and wisdom, become our teachers.

When you have witnessed someone nonspeaking and almost nonmoving
spell out, with a toe, on a big plastic alphabet chart, letter by
letter, his new poem, you have experienced, close up, the passion
and essentialness of writing.

When you have held up a small cardboard alphabet card for a writer
who is completely nonspeaking and non moving (except for the eyes),
and pointed first to the A, then the B, then C, then D, until you
get to the first letter of the first word of the first line of the
poem she has been composing in her head all week, and she lifts her
eyes when that letter is touched to say yes, you feel with a fresh
immediacy the human drive for creation,self-_expression, accuracy,
honesty and wit--and the importance of writing, which celebrates the
value of each person's unique story and song.

So the prospect of a festival of books seemed wonderful to me. I
thought of the opportunity to talk about how to start up an outreach
program. I thought of the chance to sell some books, sign some books
and meet some of the citizens of Washington , DC. I thought that I
could try to find a way, even as your guest, with respect, to speak
about my deep feeling that we should not have invaded Iraq, and to
declare my belief that the wish to invade another culture and
another country--with the resultant loss of life and limb for our
brave soldiers, and for the noncombatants in their home terrain--did
not come out of our democracy but was instead a decision made "at
the top" and forced on the people by distorted language, and by
untruths. I hoped to express the fear that we have begun to live in
the shadows of tyranny and religious chauvinism--the opposites of
the liberty, tolerance and diversity our nation aspires to.

I tried to see my way clear to attend the festival in order to bear
witness--as an American who loves her country and its principles and
its writing--against this undeclared and devastating war. But I
could not face the idea of breaking bread with you. I knew that if I
sat down to eat with you, it would feel to me as if I were condoning
what I see to be the wild, highhanded actions of the Bush
Administration.

What kept coming to the fore of my mind was that I would be taking
food from the hand of the First Lady who represents the
Administration that unleashed this war and that wills its
continuation, even to the extent of permitting "extraordinary
rendition": flying people to other countries where they will be
tortured for us.

So many Americans who had felt pride in our country now feel anguish
and shame for the current regime of blood, wounds and fire. I
thought of the clean linens at your table, the shining knives and
the flames of the candles, and I could not stomach it.

Sincerely,
SHARON OLDS

Blues Festival Guide Wins Coveted Award!

The Blues Foundation today announced the newest recipients
of their "Keeping the Blues Alive" awards. The Blues Festival
Guide was awarded the honor in the Print Media category.

Each year, The Blues Foundation presents the Keeping the Blues
Alive (KBA) Awards to individuals and organizations that have
made significant contributions to the Blues world. The Blues Festival Guide
will be honored at The Blues Foundation's 2006 Keeping the Blues Alive
(KBA) Award ceremony on Saturday, January 28, 2006, in Memphis
Tennessee. The KBA ceremony will be part of the International Blues 
Challenge (IBC) weekend of events. The Blues Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of
the Blues. With more than 135 affiliated Blues organizations, and
membership spanning some twenty countries, the Foundation serves as the
hub for the worldwide passion for Blues Music.

The Blues Festival Guide, entering its 4th year of publication, is an
annual magazine (for which the award was given), a website directory of
all things BLUES, especially festivals, and a free Blues E-Guide for
on-line subscribers.

The magazine is distributed in the USA free to 100,000 fans of music,
especially blues music.  All 135+ blues societies across the country
receive a major allocation of magazines to distribute to their members.
Additionally the magazine can be found at record stores, music stores,
museums, blues clubs and blues festivals across the country.

"Our readers naturally include blues enthusiasts, but we also reach and
develop the more casual blues fan who loves the music but has not had
access to a publication devoted to blues" says Kaati Gaffney, publisher
for The Blues Festival Guide. "Creating new fans of the blues, that's
how we contribute to keeping the blues alive". Street date for the 2006
issue of The Blues Festival Guide is April 24, 2006.

Unlike the Blues Music Awards, the highest award in the Blues voted on
by the thousands of members of The Blues Foundation, the KBAs are
awarded to non-performers strictly on the basis of merit by a select
panel of Blues professionals. Noted educator, author, journalist, and
KBA Chairman Art Tipaldi notes “The KBA is awarded for the recipient's
lifetime body of work; we don’t view the recipient as the winner of a
‘best of the year’ category.”

Future goals for The Blues Festival Guide include expansion of
distribution. According to Gaffney "We receive requests for three times
more magazines than we can currently afford to print. We are actively
pursuing sponsorship from several companies whose participation will
allow for expanded distribution in the USA and perhaps even into
Canada." Annually there are over 300 blues festivals just in the USA
each year, with total attendance figures in excess of two million blues
fans. “We have lots of room to grow”.

###

For more information contact:

Jay Sieleman
Executive Director
The Blues Foundation
www.blues.org
901.527.2583
jay@blues.org

Nancy Edwards
Marketing Director
The Blues Festival Guide
www.bluesfestivalguide.com
352.527.1680
nancy@bluesfestivalguide.com