They Call Me Big Walter

["Steven D. Levine" <drsoul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

No, they don't call *me* Big Walter (or even Big Steve for that matter!) 
- but maybe in another ten years of playing I'll approach that style 
and tone.  :-) What the subject of my post refers to is the Walter Horton 
cd I got today. I posted about it about two weeks ago, asking if anyone 
had heard of it. Some of suggested that it might be Big Walter Price 
(not a harp player). It is indeed my all time favorite harp master Big 
"Shakey" "Mumbles" Walter Horton. It was recorded on the Labor label in 
1972, in Edmonton Canada. There's some great stuff on this disc. It's not 
as good as his Blind Pig recordings but it's worth getting if you're a 
Walter Horton fan. (especially if you're obsessed with Big Walter as I am!)

He does some of his standards - including Hard Hearted Woman (I now have 
four different versions of this tune by the master!), and Big Walter's 
Boogie - and some blues standards, like Sugar Mama and a brief solo harp 
version of John Henry. There's also a short interview where he claims to 
have taught Sonny Boy Williamson "half of what he knows." 

I also recently ordered the Johnny Shines with Walter Horton cd, (which I 
didn't even know about until I saw the discography in Peter Garulnick's 
book "Feel Like Going Home"), and I'm eagerly awaiting it. The 
singer/guitarist in my band recently picked up the Fleetwood Mac Live in 
Chicago cd set, and Big Walter plays on that. I'll have to borrow it 
from him to see if it's worth buying. 

I read somewhere that Horton recorded with Hound Dog Taylor. Anyone know 
which album(s)? I'm becoming a real completist with my Big Walter collection!

  -Steve