Horton Barker

Horton Barker (August 23, 1889 – August 12, 1973)[1][2] was an Appalachian traditional singer.

Barker was born in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, USA. Blind nearly all his life, Barker learned his unusually wide repertoire at the School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton, Virginia, as well as at folk festivals in Whitetop, Virginia.[3]

Barker's pure-toned tenor voice earned him a bare living around the region but also brought him to the attention of folklorist Alan Lomax, who recorded Barker in 1937, and later Folkways recording engineer Sandy Paton, who recorded Barker's 1961 LP Horton Barker: Traditional Singer.[3]

At the age of 75, Barker appeared at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. A brief portion of the song "Pretty Sally" from Barker's Saturday performance at that festival is featured in the 1967 documentary film Festival, directed by Murray Lerner.[4]

Horton Barker died in 1973 at the age of 83.[5]

References
  1. "Horton Barker". Retrieved December 28, 2020.
  2. "Horton Barker". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  3. "Horton Barker - Traditional Singer". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  4. Mary Katherine Aldin, "Horton Barker," in booklet accompanying the 2017 Criterion Collection Blu-ray release of Festival. ISBN 978-1-68143-353-0.
  5. "Horton Barker". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-10-18.


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