He was a folkloric composer who strove to "dress up" Mexican music, moving it from the streets and bars to enter the concert halls, making it compete with tango and bolero, when they were fashionable.
Besides Guadalajara he wrote Corrido del Norte, Como México no hay dos, and Tehuantepec, all hits that marked an epoch in the life of Mexican music.
Pepe Guízar gave validity to an entire musical movement interested in restoring values and life of its people beyond the capital.
The Jalisco state government granted him the Castle of the Colomos to live in, but his poor health did not allow him to inhabit it for long.
He traveled frequently to Mexico City to feel surrounded by people and died in one of these trips on September 17, 1980.