Harold Horn was born March 6, 1933 on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, MT. He served in the Army from 1950 until 1953, including ten months in Korea. Returning to Spokane, he became a professional musician around Spokane and in Coeur d’Alene.
He played guitar with Bobby Wayne and the Warriors, appearing on their only single on the LJV label, “Sally Ann” / “War Paint”. He also sang a fine lead vocal with the group on “Long Lean Baby”, which was only released in 2005 on the Sundazed EP ’55 Spokane Rockabilly!
Bobby Wayne would produce Harold Horn’s only solo release, “Dew B. Dewey”, a pop song set to a thumping beat with horns and cooing female backup vocals. The flip was the Little Richard standard, “Miss Ann”, a simpler production of acoustic guitar backed by another pounding drum beat.
Bobby Wayne (Robert Wayne Snyder) and Don Weise wrote “Dew B. Dewey”, published byBurdette Music Co. and released on Jerden 750 in 1965.
Harold Horn would lead his own bands during this time. One notice in the Spokesman-Review from June 13, 1964 gives the name of the other musicians in his trio:
Patients at the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children were entertained Friday with a two-hour concert of music donated by a Spokane band.
The three-piece musical group of Harold Horn played for the children in the hospital’s auditorium. Other members of the band were Jimmy Mitten on drums and LaCharlie Cook on guitar.
Harold Horn left music around 1966, not long after the Jerden single.
The Spokane Daily Chronicle profiled Harold on June 22, 1968, when he was social service coordinator with the American Indian Community Center. Headlined “Indian Aide Recalls Frustration and Depression: Now Helping His People” it is well worth a read.
Harold Horn died on November 24, 2016.
