Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter “Shakey” Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues. Willie Dixon once called Horton “the best harmonica player I ever heard.”

Robert Palmer named him as “one of the three great harmonica soloists of modern blues”, with the two others being cited as Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Also known as “Mumbles”, “Shakey”, along with “Tangle Eye” and “Shakey Head” (because of his head motion while playing the harmonica, along with him suffering from nystagmus), Horton was known for his unique tongue-blocking techniques and tone.

Horton was born in Horn Lake, Mississippi. He claimed to be born in 1917, but his birth date is often cited as April 6, 1918. Various sources give the year as 1917 or 1921, although it is most likely he was born in 1921. He was playing the harmonica by the time he was five years old^[5][9] when his father gave him a harmonica as a gift. Horton dropped out of school at the age of seven.