Thanks to everyone who responded to my enquiry about William Clauson.

Yes, he made a record of mariachi songs (it may be available on a compact disk), and in fact his Latino fans dubbed him "the blond cowboy." In addition to his other recording mentioned, of sheep-shearing songs, he did a live concert record from New Zealand, released on EMI.

Here in the U.S., RCA released an lp titled "Folk Songs" in 1956; with liner notes by Douglas Kennedy, then the director of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, the recording was most likely done in Britain and first released on EMI. A couple of years after the RCA disk appeared, Clauson released two disks on the Capitol label; my guess is that they, too, were British originals. I believe one of them was identical to the New Zealand live-concert recording.

I know about the Sunkit site; I have a friend who knows some Swedish, and I'll ask him to translate it. I'll be sure to pass along whatever I learn.

Magnus Nilsson, who is responsible for the Sunkit website, tells me that he last heard of Clauson in the mid-70s, and that his reason for posting that brief bio of Clauson in his website was to elicit more information about him.

The only siginificant mention in print of Clauson I have seen is in a mid-60s guide to the folk music scene of the day. In a page-long bio, Clauson is cited as one of the top up-and-coming folk-singing talents.

Mr. Nilsson also mentioned that at some point, Clauson opened a restaurant serving Mexican food.

It gets more interesting. He appears to have had a film career. I ran across a reference to a Hollywood film titled "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," starring Marjorie Main, in which Clauson had a small part. I believe he appeared in other commercial films.

Finally, in NPR's "Greatest 100" celebration of American songs during the Millenium, it was Clauson who was given either composing or arranging credit (I forget which) for "La Bamba."

Again, thanks to all who responded. Let's keep one another posted as we learn more about William Clauson. I repeat what I said in my initial "thread': Clauson is one of the greats.