Debbie Horton is an American guitarist, DJ and songwriter who is the only woman to have ever played lead guitar for Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

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Involvement with Johnny Cash

During a concert near Baltimore, Maryland Johnny Cash had heard that Debbie Horton was there and that she played lead guitar in a similar way to Luther Perkins

Luther Perkins

Luther Monroe Perkins was an American country music guitarist and a member of the Tennessee Three, the backup band for singer Johnny Cash. Perkins was an iconic figure in what would become known as rockabilly music...

. During the concert Cash called Horton out of the audience to join him on stage to perform a song with him. Cash sang Big River

Big River (Johnny Cash song)

"Big River" is a song written and originally recorded by Johnny Cash. Released as a single by Sun Records in 1958, it went as high as #4 on the Billboard country music charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks...

while Horton played lead guitar. Horton holds the distinction of being the only woman to have played lead guitar for Cash.

Songwriter

Horton has written many songs and two of her compositions were recorded by Grand Ole Opry star, Pretty Miss Norma Jean and rockabilly queen, Wanda Jackson

Wanda Jackson

Wanda Lavonne Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist...

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Performer

Presently Debbie Horton is the co-host of a traveling show from Branson, Missouri

Branson, Missouri

Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....

, featuring a tribute to Johnny Cash. She can be seen regularly on the RFD-TV

RFD-TV

RFD-TV, or Rural Free Delivery TV, is a United States satellite and cable television channel devoted to rural issues, concerns, and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United States Postal Service's system of delivering mail directly to rural patrons...

television show, Midwest Country.