Cisco Houston Web Site

On CD

American Folksay: Ballads & Dances, Volumes 5 & 6; Chain Gang Volumes 1 & 2

Collectables, 1995

Track Listing

  1. Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies: Holly Wood
  2. Take This Hammer: Leadbelly
  3. Hobo Bill: Cisco Houston (Longer than his Folkways version)
  4. Go Tell Aunt Rhody: Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry
  5. Teeroo Teeroo: Pete Seeger
  6. Johnson Boys: Holly Wood
  7. The Rover: Cisco Houston
  8. House Of The Rising Sun: Woody Guthrie
  9. Old Smokey: Frank Warner
  10. When The Train Comes Along: Gary Davis, Sonny Terry
  11. Corn Bread Rough: Leadbelly
  12. Streets Of Loredo: Tom Glazer
  13. Down In The Valley: (Unknown)
  14. Foggy Dew, The: Erie Liberman
  15. Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn: Pete Seeger
  16. Jolly Roving Tar: Frank Warner
  17. Froggy Went A Courtin': Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry
  18. Erie Canal: Pete Seeger
  19. Solider, Solider: Ernie Liberman
  20. Cornbread, Meat And Molasses: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  21. Ham And Eggs: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  22. Lost John: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  23. Chain Gang Blues: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  24. It Takes A Chain Gang Man: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  25. Betty And Dupree: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  26. Stackolee: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  27. Rock Me Momma: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  28. Chain Gang Special: Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, & Alek Stewart
  29. Long John: Woody Guthrie

Of Interest:

More public domain stuff from the 40s, and not much to write home about. Cisco does not even rise to second banana here, but hovers sowmewhere between third banana and second canteloupe. Woody's "Chain Gang" stuff is not very convincing, the rest is mostly stuff done better by others. The only highlight for me is a great song, "Jolly Roving Tar" delightfully performed by a guy whose name was familiar, but whose performances I don't know, Frank Warner. I certainly wish that Cisco had recorded "Streets of Laredo" using the version sung by Tom Glazer, for lyrically it is quite moving, But Glazer was, at best, a so-so vocalist, and missed much of the poignancy of this tale.

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