Cisco Houston Web Site

On CD

American Folksay: Ballads & Dances, Voumes 1, 2, 3, & 4

Collectables, 1995

Track Listing

Volume 1 Stinson Records SLP 5

  1. Glory - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry (Track 1, Side B)
  2. Poor Lazarus - Woody Guthrie (Track 2, Side B)
  3. It Was So Sad When That Great Ship Went Down - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry (Track 3, Side B)
  4. 900 Miles - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston (Instrumental) (Track 4, Side B)
  5. Cindy - Pete Seeger (Track 1, Side A)
  6. Don't Lie Buddy - Leadbelly, Josh White (Track 2, Side A)
  7. Mule Skinner Blues - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Pete Seeger (CD label says Leadbelly, but LP says Pete, and Leadbelly sure didn't play that banjo!) (Track 3, Side A)
  8. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet? - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston (Track 4, Side A)

Volume 2 Stinson Records SLP 6

  1. Alabama Bound - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly (Track 2, Side A)
  2. Round the Bay of Mexico - Bob Carey, Erik Darling, Roger Sprung (Track 1, Side A)
  3. Tom Dooley - Bob Carey, Erik Darling, Roger Sprung (Track 3, Side A)
  4. Devilish Mary - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston (Track 4, Side A)
  5. Midnight Special - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly (Track 1, Side B)
  6. Sportin' Life Blues - Bob Cary (Track 2, Side B)
  7. Crawdad Song - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry (Track 3, Side B)
  8. Raise a Rukus - Bob Carey, Erik Darling, Roger Sprung (Track 4, Side B)

Volume 3 Stinson Records SLP 9

  1. Yellow Gal - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly
  2. Hard Traveling - Woody Guthrie
  3. Roving Gambler - Cisco Houston
  4. Lost John - Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry
  5. Casey Jones - Pete Seeger
  6. Railroad Whistle - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry
  7. I've a Pretty Flower - Leadbelly, Josh White
  8. Bile Dem Cabbage Down - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry

Volume 4 Stinson Records SLP 11

  1. Shenandoah - Ernie Lieberman (Track 1, Side A)
  2. Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase - Pete Seeger (Track 2, Side A)
  3. Stewball - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly (Track 3, Side A)
  4. Sowing on the Mountain - Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston (Track 4, Side A)
  5. Bennington Rifleman - Ernie Lieberman (Track 1, Side B)

Not included on the CD:

  1. Down In The Willow Garden - Cisco Houston (Track 2, Side B)
  2. T For Texas - Pete Seeger (Track 3, Side B)
  3. Cripple Creek - Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie (Track 4, Side B)

A compilation of four early 1960's LPs.

Notes from the LP Vol III: Ballads and Dances

Notes by Ken Goldstein

Leadbelly... Pete Seeger... Woody Guthrie... Cisco Houston... Blind Sonny Terry... Josh White... These are the people who have been leading American folk singers and instrumentalists for more than a decade. Indeed, these names are synonymous with folk music.

Stinson records is proud to present these folk artists in another program of American songs and dances, the third in its Folksay series. If you can't play an instrument, sing along. If you own a guitar, banjo, harmonica, sticks, mandolin, or what have you, pick it up and sound off. That's what Folksay means!

I'VE GOT A PRETTY FLOWER finds Leadbelly and Josh White teamed up and singing a Negro folk song with one of the most commonplace of folk symbols.

CASEY JONES, based on several old Negro railroad ballads, takes its story from real life. John Luther Jones, of Cayce, Kentucky, was an engineer on the Illinois Central R.R. He died April 30, 1900, when his engine crashed into a freight train extending from it siding onto the mainline.

HARD TRAVELING is one of the more famous of Woody Guthrie's "Dust Bowl" songs of the Depression years. Born and raised in the dust bowl of Oklahoma, and a migratory worker himself, Woody knows what he's talking and singing about.

BILE DEM CABBAGE DOWN is a traditional Negro dance tune. Woody, Cisco and Sonny play it as a mountain breakdown. The two verses in this fragment appear in many southern Negro folksongs.

YELLOW GAL is a Negro dance tune with a real fast tempo. Leadbelly picked up this and similar dance tunes from his uncle and other "sukey-jump" musicians in Louisiana.

LOST JOHN tells the story of an escaped chain gang convict. Woody introduces you to Lost John and Sonny Terry's harmonica takes you on the bloodhound chase through southern swamps and marshes.

THE ROVING GAMBLER is a cowboy ballad apparently based on "The Gamboling Man", a popular song of English origin. Its melody is obviously native to this country.

RAILROAD WHISTLE, one of the most haunting of railroad blues, is known by many names, the most popular of which is "900 Miles." Listen to Sonny's harmonica whistle in the night. "You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."

The notes include lyrics for each song, though the lyrics as printed are not always the same ones sung.

Of Interest:

Public domain stuff from the 40s, with several fine Cisco performances. Here's an LP cover as well.....

Appears to be the same stuff on the Asch recordings, but I don't have both to be sure.

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