Cisco Houston

Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston (born 1918 in Wilmington, Delaware; died 1961 in San Bernardino, California) was a central figure of the mid-century American folk revival. While not a blues musician by trade, Houston frequently performed blues-derived folk material and is a vital contextual artist in the database. He is perhaps best remembered as the primary traveling companion and vocal foil to Woody Guthrie. The two men met in California in the late 1930s, working together as merchant marines and touring the country. Houston possessed a smooth, resonant baritone voice that perfectly anchored Guthrie's rougher, nasal delivery. Recording extensively for Folkways Records in the 1940s and 1950s (often alongside Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Sonny Terry) Houston interpreted traditional ballads, railroad songs, and cowboy tunes.