On This Day in 1961, We Said Goodbye to Woody Guthrie’s Right-Hand Man, Who Bob Dylan Called “One of the Great Unsung Heroes”

During the rudderless days of the Great Depression, Gilbert Vandine Houston roamed the western United States, guitar in hand. At one point passing through the town of Cisco, California, he adopted “Cisco Houston” as his stage name. That moniker had stuck by the time he met folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, with whom he struck up both a personal and professional relationship.

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Cisco Houston was just 42 years old when he died of stomach cancer on this day (April 29) in 1961 in San Bernadino, California. Although his name isn’t quite as ubiquitous as Guthrie’s, those in the folk music community continue to hold him in high regard 65 years later.

“He was an amazing-looking guy—I mean, he was like Clark Gable,” recalled Bob Dylan in a 1984 interview with Bert Kleinman and Artie Mogul.

“Like, one of the great unsung heroes of all time,” continued Dylan, who met Houston at Gerde’s Folk City, a staple of the Manhattan music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. “You know, one of the Great American figures and… nobody knows anything about it.”

The Brief but Incredible Career of Cisco Houston

Born Aug. 18, 1918, in Wilmington, Delaware, Cisco Houston moved with his family to the Los Angeles suburb of Eagle Rock at a young age.

He suffered from a rare eye condition called nystagmus throughout his childhood, but his dizzying intelligence meant he didn’t receive an official diagnosis until much later. (He learned primarily through memorization.)

When the Great Depression struck in the early 1930s, Houston left school to help financially support his family. Eventually, he hit the road, building up a diverse resume that included cowboy, lumberjack, and farm worker. This is where he also began accumulating his vast knowledge of American folk music.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1944, Woody Guthrie Recorded One of the Most Potent Protest Songs of All Time]

After returning to Los Angeles in 1938 to pursue an acting career, Houston crossed paths with Woody Guthrie at a Hollywood radio station. Developing a close friendship, the pair traveled together and performed anywhere they could—union halls, picket lines, political rallies, and night clubs. Eventually, the two even served alongside one another in the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II.

Cisco Houston continued performing after World War II, even after receiving a terminal stomach cancer diagnosis. He died less than two months after recording his final album, Ain’t Got No Home.

Of his friend, Guthrie said, “In my own mind, I see Cisco Houston as one of our manliest and best of our living crop of ballad and folksong singers. He is showman enough to make the grade and to hold any audience anywhere at anytime. I like Cisco as a man. I like him as a person, and as a fun-having, warmhearted, and likeable human being.”

Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images