Bobby Horton

Two musicians named Bobby Horton rose from Birmingham, Alabama, during the twentieth century to earn worldwide recognition, their careers set apart by the eras they inhabited and the musical interests they pursued. The jazz trombonist who recorded as both Robert Horton and Bobby Horton entered the profession in the 1920s within big-band and dance-band circles, whereas the multi-instrumentalist Bobby Horton first committed American Civil War material to disc in the mid-1980s. After issuing more than a dozen recordings devoted to that repertoire, he is widely regarded as an authority on the music of the period and, beyond that distinction, as a master of overdubbing. He interprets the songs in trio, quartet, and larger configurations, drawing on roughly fourteen instruments rooted in traditional music, among them the Dobro and the harmonica.

A wide public first encountered his work through Ken Burns’s documentary series The Civil War, and he went on to supply music for additional films, his playing consistently summoning the atmosphere of particular times and settings. Video games centered on historic American battlefields have likewise commissioned recordings from him. As a performer in his hometown, Horton has appeared with Birmingham ensembles including Three on a String and the Front Porch String Band.