David Wendell Guion (1892-1981) published nearly one hundred fifty songs for voice and piano, ranging from sacred art songs to arrangements of folk songs. Born and raised in Texas but spending much of his adult life in the Northeast, Guion wrote songs that encompass a wide range of styles and demonstrate the mixture of the cultivated and the vernacular that is an integral facet of American music.

This document explores Guion's contributions to the American song repertoire through discussion of selected pieces and examination of some of the biographical, societal, and musical influences upon them. Guion wrote three main types of songs: arrangements of cowboy songs, African-American influenced songs which he named Songs of the South, and original art songs ranging from light parlor pieces to serious compositions about war and religion.

The first two chapters of this document include an introduction and a brief biography and discussion of Guion's compositional style. Each of the three main types of songs is explored in its own chapter. After a short conclusion and the bibliography, two appendices give further information about this little-known composer. The first appendix is a comprehensive chart of Guion's songs, listing each song and its category, publication information, lyricist, key, range, and additional information. The second appendix is a discography of Guion's vocal music.