One of eleven children born near Broad Top City, Pennsylvania, Horton and his older brother Vaughn (1911–1988) turned away from coal mining, their father's occupation, to that of music.
[1][4] Also in New York, Horton participated in numerous recording session secured by his brother Vaughn in Rhythm and blues music for companies such as Continental, London, Majestic, MGM, National, and Varsity among others.
[1] To help raise funds for the first Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Horton created a multi-artist compilation album that was among the first to be marketed on television.
)[1][3] By the 1990s, a dream Horton had about a compilation album of some of the material from the Peer song catalog came to fruition with the help of Merle Haggard.
[7] Horton died on September 23, 2003, in Manchester, Connecticut, to several health issues, including diabetes and congestive heart failure that was further complicated by a stroke suffered in 2001.