Five Decades of Arhoolie

[mjzee]

Only a handful of American roots-music recording labels have lasted decades. And in the whole arena's welcome evolution—away from a pre-1960s emphasis on highbrow folkloric preservation and from a related preference for decorous music strikingly lacking in rhythm, wit and sex—no label has made more of a difference than Arhoolie Records of El Cerrito, Calif. The little Bay Area label established in 1960 would find, record and spotlight such working, stomping artists as Fred McDowell in the blues, Clifton Chenier in zydeco, BeauSoleil and the Doucet family in cajun, the Campbell Brothers in sacred steel, and Flaco Jiménez in Tex-Mex Tejano, while bringing to the fore older, legacy acts, live or from recorded archives, in the same muscular, zestful mode—the Maddox Brothers and Rose, the Hackberry Ramblers, Mainer's Mountaineers, Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lydia Mendoza. The range and focus on underexplored musical flavors were groundbreaking.

More here:

WSJ

[Big Beat Steve]

His Arhoolie, Folklyric and Old Timey LPs (those comparatively few that I was able to aford at the time) helped enormously to expand my musical horizons and awareness of a lot of what was out there in Hillbilly, Western Swing, R&B, Cajun and Norteno music in my early collecting days in the late 70s. And browsing through the Arhoolie catalog always was a revelation (though in many cases it would be years before I'd get my hands on certain items).

[Neal Pomea]

Ever since the 1970s I was aware of recorded Cajun and Creole music from the 1920s and 30s through an outstanding series of lps (long-playing records) on the market by the Arhoolie Records label. I will always be grateful to producer Chris Strachwitz for making that music available! It's as if it's in my DNA now! Some of these remarkable lps are still available from the Arhoolie Web site, with these titles: Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 1, First Recordings (OT108); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 2, The Early 30s(OT109); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 3, The String Bands of the 1930s (OT110); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 4, The 30s to the 50s (OT111); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 5, 1928-1938 (OT114); Amade Ardoin, His Original Recordings 1928-1934 Volume 6 (OT124); Leo Soileau, Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 7 (OT125).

Edited February 6, 2013 by Neal Pomea

[Head Man]

I have a real soft spot for this label and used to have many of their blues LPs. In fact this:

was one of the first albums I ever bought, in the early 60s. Amazingly it's still available from Arhoolie in vinyl. I love record labels that do that!

[paul secor]

Chris Strachwitz has kept the faith over so many years. Bless him.

[Rabshakeh]

In honour of Mr Strachwitz' passing, I'd be interested in hearing of members' favourites from this excellent back catalogue.

[Big Beat Steve]

1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:

In honour of Mr Strachwitz' passing, I'd be interested in hearing of members' favourites from this excellent back catalogue.

Which styles/categories of music, exactly?
They are not all alike, don't cater to the same tastes, and tastes and preferences of musical styles do differ.

[Rabshakeh]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Which styles/categories of music, exactly?
They are not all alike, don't cater to the same tastes, and tastes and preferences of musical styles do differ.

Just from the Arhoolie and associated back catalogue.