County boy makes good nationally

McDONALD COUNTY (MO.) -- For someone who was born and raised seven miles from the nearest paved road in the Rocky Comfort (population less than 100) area, Kenny Ray Horton has done quite well for himself out in the big-city world.

Horton has rubbed elbows with some of Nashville's greatest, including entertainers, songwriters, producers and executives in the music world. In another universe, he has met presidents, politicians, military commanders and world leaders.

Horton has been able to combine these two totally different arenas into one fabulously successful career.

In a field where most dream, but few live out those dreams, Horton has flourished as singer, songwriter, as well as a soldier, performing all over the United States with the U.S. Navy Country Current Band.

Horton was first published as a second grade poet ("words that rhymed, but made no sense") thanks to a teacher at Rocky Comfort School. His music interest was sparked by a neighbor, who happened to be world famous (it is a small world) songwriter Albert E. Brumley.

"Barbara Burnett was in her first year of teaching and she saw my poems and had some published," Horton said. "We (parents Bob and Ruth Horton) would always go to the Hill 'N Hollow Music Festival every year in Powell. Dad was friends with Bob Brumley (son of Albert E. Brumley) and I thought it was cool being around the musicians that would come. I thought this sounds really good. One day I had an 'aha moment' when I realized why it sounded so good. This was Albert E. Brumley songs with his family and friends."

Horton said the next thing he knew he was putting his poetry skills to work as a songwriter. His first public exposure came about at the annual talent show, though reluctantly, at McDonald County High School, from where Horton graduated in 1989.

"I had a friend, Gary Blue, who told Mr. Willis (principal John Willis) about me writing and singing," Horton said. "They signed me up, but I said I wasn't going to do it. Well not long after that, I done something (he says he forgets what) to get in trouble and Mr. Willis said my punishment was to perform in the talent show. Told him I couldn't do it, but I did. I was sweating bullets."

Not only did Horton win the talent show, it launched his career.

"That ended up to be the thing that got me started," Horton said.

From McDonald County, Horton went on to Crowder College (ironically on the first Albert E. Brumley Scholarship) and then to central Illinois, where he joined a group singing and dancing all over the state raising funds for the Special Olympics.

"At Crowder, I didn't think a country boy from Rocky Comfort could go to Nashville, so I auditioned for this group in Illinois," Horton said. "I got the job there. Up there, I started going to college to study business and one day -- it was Christmas break -- I walked in my room and thought, 'What am I doing.' I sold what I could, gave away the rest, packed my Jeep and went to Nashville."

The term struggling musician/songwriter could have been penned with Horton in mind. He slept in his Jeep for his first two weeks in Music City, sneaking into rooms at a Best Western to clean up. While making the rounds in Nashville, he made friends with others doing the same thing, one who happened to be Blake Shelton.

He said the group would meet at the Bluebird Cafe for "Writers in the Round." He said they would take turns performing songs they wrote. One night a songwriter who wrote for Garth Brooks asked him to sing the "high harmony" on a Garth song with him.

"This was a unique opportunity," Horton said. "This doesn't happen. I realized just how big a deal this was."

Horton soon landed a job as a staff writer at Oh Boy Records, where he wrote "The Soldier's King" that was recorded by Kenny Rogers and for which he received a gold record (500,000 sales).

"I was in the Piggly Wiggly one day, counting my money to make sure I had enough when I got to the register, when a guy behind me asks, 'Think you got it?' He said if I didn't he would cover it. I told him that wouldn't be necessary, but we got to talking. Turns out he was a big-time producer. He told me if I ever had a song that I thought was good enough, to let him know."

A few months later, Horton wrote "A Soldier's King." John Prine did a demo tape of the song. Horton then took it to the big-time producer.

"I walked five blocks to Magnatone Records and asked for him," Horton said. "The secretary asked if he was expecting me. I told her that he was. I never told her that he might not be expecting me right then. The guy was on the phone, but he recognized me and I left him the tape. He said he would listen to it then, but I told him I didn't want to bother him and that I would just leave it so he could listen when he had time."

Horton said by the time he got back to his office, the producer had called and said he wanted to put a hold on the song. Within two weeks, Horton found out the song was being held for a new album by Kenny Rogers.

"One morning I was eating cereal and toast, drinking coffee and watching Good Morning, America," Horton said. "I will never forget it. I got a call and was told to switch over to the 700 Club. There was Kenny Rogers, less than three days after I was told the song was being held for him, performing it on TV. I threw my cereal and toast all over the floor and the coffee hit the ceiling."

Horton said, not long after, one day while in his office, he got a call and was told it was Kenny Rogers.

"I just knew it was a joke," Horton said. "I said Tom I know this is you, but he said 'no this is Kenny Rogers.' He told me he was going to center a new Christmas record with my song. He just wanted to make sure to see if I wanted to add anything. I told him I thought a French horn line would be good. On the recording, there is a French horn line."

He said, not long after that, the Napster (free music file sharing) came about that put Nashville in a crisis mode.

"Nashville became tense and began scaling back," Horton said. "They were dropping big-name writers. I thought to myself, 'I am 30 years old and there is no guarantee in music,' so I went to the Navy recruiter. I entered the Navy in December 2000 as an electronic tech."

He said in boot camp he was singing and playing in the barracks one day and was approached about joining the band. He said all he thought the Navy had was a marching band and he didn't want to do that. But he said he eventually found out about the Navy band that played his kind of music. He auditioned and was accepted.

That was the Navy Band Great Lakes. He then moved up to the Pacific Fleet Band in 2005.

"That was such a good gig," Horton said. "I mean I was stationed in Hawaii for two years."

In 2008, he joined the U.S. Navy Country Current Band, the only sanctioned bluegrass band in the Navy.

"It's unusual for a Fleet guy to go to the U.S. band," Horton said. "I was so nervous in my audition, I blew it. My hands were shaking so bad I couldn't play. They sent me home, but a few months go by and I get a call and they said I was hired."

Since then, Horton has performed in the White House for presidents George W. Bush and Barack O'Bama. He said his biggest fan is Vice President Joe Biden, who has had the band over numerous times for special occasions at his house.

Horton said, at one event he was sick and couldn't attend. He said he got a call while in the hospital that someone was going to bring him something.

"I got a hand-written note, a jar of candy canes and an ornament from a Christmas tree," Horton said. "It was from the Vice President saying 'get well soon.'"

Another fan is Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Horton said the band plays before high-level talks to ease the tension before the meetings. He said at one important meeting with a delegation from China, Hagel came out when they were leaving and thanked him for doing such a great job.

"The driver said he had done this for 18 years and never seen that before," Horton said.

Area music fans will soon get a chance to see that kind of a performance. Horton will be performing two shows at the Elsie Plaster Community Center on the campus of Crowder College. The first show will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, followed by a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3.

Advanced tickets are $20. General admission tickets at the door are $25. Tickets are available at the following locations:

• 'Stangs, 497 Highway 76, Anderson, 417-845-1500;

• Calvary Baptist Church, 2650 Oak Ridge Extension, Neosho, 417-451-4763;

• Les Jacobs Ford, 18690 State Highway 37, Cassville, 417-847-2151.

Each paid ticket holder will receive a free CD copy of the latest album, and that same ticket purchased qualifies ticket holders to win an acoustic guitar which will be given away at each show (must be present at show to win).

Horton said he wanted to do a homecoming show because he doesn't get a chance to perform anywhere near to where he grew up.

"This is big for me," Horton said. "I am footing the bill for everything. The show will be in two parts with an intermission. The first part will be how I got to where I am with 14-16 songs. The second will be all original songs with me and my guitar."