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Breaking News!

This site has been around for about 6 years now, celebrating a relatively unknown folksinger in a world that values celebrity and electric, trivial music. In each of those 6 years we have wondered why no biographical film of Cisco was ever made. And we've done a bit of fantasizing about how we would do it. Not only was Cisco a charming and personable guy, but he was tall and handsome and a darn good singer who lived through a variety of tumultuous times and did it with lots of folks who became famous. If we can have biographies of Patch Adams and Larry Flynt, why not Cisco Houston?

Well, we will wonder no more, as that wish, or a portion of it, is about to be granted. I recognize that the chasm between getting ready to start to initiate talks about beginning the process of making a film, and seeing it in the theater is a gap larger than that between Obama and me, but I also know that a couple of hundred times a year that canyon is bridged. Usually, in my mind, not very successfully, but we can hope.

So, Woody, Cisco, and Me by Jim Longhi is to be filmed directed by Mimi Leder. The tentative title is Remember Their Names, with a script by Reuben Leder, the director's brother. I will post all details I learn, and maybe, if we're lucky, we can get some photos. Who will play Cisco?

A Longstanding Error Remedied

Cisco often sang "I Ain't Got No Home" but now that has been remedied. Welcome to the small, but growing, Internet Home of Cisco Houston. This fine folksinger, the definitive interpreter of Woody Guthrie's massive songbook, as well as the genuine voice of the rails and plains, is an underappreciated giant. Our site offers photos, reviews, articles, essays and original writing about the life, career, and music of a great American troubadour, all in the hope of restoring an appropriate magnitude to his reputation.

The folk music magazine Sing Out devoted a significant chunk of its October/November 1961 issue to the then recently deceased Cisco. Fine articles by Lee Hays and Bill Wolff convey a bit of the spirit of this man. Check the Photo Gallery for the pictures from that issue, as well as photos from all aspects of his life.

He died way too soon, though had he lived longer it's difficult to imagine how he would have adapted to the deification of every guy who sang and played a little guitar. Cisco seems to have been a simple working man, hoping to earn a buck, get along with everyone, work for good and help a fella when he needed it. But the loss of this voice, right when folk music veered into the same self-glorification and pompousness that afflicted all the performing arts, is a shame. We can't bring him back, but we hope to do a little something to keep his music and his persona alive.

A new photo has appeared...sent to us by an overseas fan. Cisco in London in 1958. Click on it (far right) to see the full-sized version.

And regardless of how you feel about the current American election, how nice to see Cisco make it to the mainstream press (well, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, however mainstream that is.) Did anyone else ever record this song? Clearly Cisco liked it, as do I. How many viewers of this cartoon could connect Hillary Clinton's comeback after the New Hampshire primary with Cisco Houston's The Cat Came Back Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized version. May this be the harbinger of a Cisco revival! Thank you Roger Harvell (whom I have tried to contact, but with no success.)

We welcome any suggestions, contributions, or questions. You send it, we'll consider using it. Find Contact Info on the Who Are We page. Help us spread the word. And the music. And thanks for visiting.

Note: Throughout the site you will see thumbnail images. These all are links to larger versions of the same image.