From there on his label grew at a steady rate. Strachwitz continued to make southern field trips to find and record amateur or neighborhood musicians, always more interested in their passionate performance than swayed by technical proficiency. He recorded in barber shops and bars, capturing the men on their home turf--at first focused mainly on bluesmen like Jesse Fuller, Little Son Jackson, Big Joe Williams and the Black Ace. But even on his earliest field trips, other music caught his ear as well, and early sixties recordings include The Hodges Brothers, a white country band, as well as the Hackberry Ramblers, a Cajun tinged trio. In 1964 Chris made his biggest discovery, Clifton Chennier, a cousin of Hopkins wife. Chennier was the zydeco accordionist king and he went on to become one of the labels better sellers.

Not only was Strachwitz doing live recordings, he also began reissuing long out-of-print blues 78's. His Blues Classics label introduced many to the harmonica sounds of Sonny Boy (John Lee) Williamson, and the intricate guitar work and vocals of Memphis Minnie. He began doing reissues when he met Minnie in a Memphis nursing home, where she was crippled and paralyzed. He'd loved her thirties recordings and was motivated "to give folks some money, and putting out their records (which were not available at the time) seemed like a good way to go about it. I paid her royalties from day one...". Strachwitz also reissued the amazing Trumpet label sides on Rice Miller, Sonny Boy Williamson II. Chris had a strong influence on the blues revival, furnishing many young bands with material in his compilation collections such as "The Jug Jook And Washboard Bands", "Country Blues Classics" (Vols 1-3) and "Chicago Blues Classics--The Early 50's". The later was a great compilation of seminal sides by Little Walter, Baby Face Leroy, Junior Wells, John Brim, Floyd Jones et al. He also bought masters from old labels and reissued a number of Hopkins sides for the Gold Star label. (It should be pointed out that NONE of the reissue sides are included here--the criteria was that all tracks would be ones that Strachwitz had a personal hand in recording.)

He continued to record bluesmen like Bukka White and Fred McDowell, though his tastes were branching out to include more country, zydeco and free jazz as well. One of his odder discoveries was Bongo Joe who he cut in 1968. Joe, who played two oil drums with mallets had a BBC radio hit with "Innocent Little Doggie", it got FM airplay in the US as well. In 1969 Country Joe McDonald had performed "Fixing To Die Rag" at Woodstock--it appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack album--and Strachwitz got the publishing royalties, per a deal made when he'd recorded Joes debut EP in 1964. (He subsequently gave McDonald back the publishing, but got enough to put a down payment on a building for the company.) Then in 1971 the Stones cut Fred McDowells "You Got To Move"--after a lawsuit proved the claim, Chris and Fred split a good-sized check. Strachwitz put a lot back into the business, and indulged his new found taste for border music bands.

The first two CD's in this set cover the first decade of Arhoolie label, they're heavily blues laced. By 1970 Chris had found a new passion; Mexican tejano music of all stripes. The third and fourth CD's are a heady mix of conjunto, zydeco and even Klezmore music, another popular artist was BeauSoleil, who recorded a number of albums in various configurations. The fifth CD has a smattering of world music with musicians from Africa, India and Belieze mixed with gospel groups, preachers and county singer Rose Maddox. It ends with several tracks from Chris's latest love, the Sacred Steel numbers played by Holiness sects in Florida, with artists like Sonny Treadway and Aubrery Ghent making some driving, blues tinged steel guitar recordings that verge on unearthly in power and drive.

The over six hours of music heard here has one thing in common--its all music from the heart, played more for pleasure than profit, and recorded with much the same spirit. Strachwitz has done a truly monumental job of collecting and disseminating music with roots, and he's helped shape the face and sound of the genre for over 40 years now. This set is a fine sampler of what Arhoolie has to offer, it comes in an LP sized box, with a 68 page LP sized book (legible type size!), with Chris's reminiscences of each song or group and how they were recorded. It also includes a number of unseen photos along with the 41,000 word text. In other words, if you want to explore what roots music in America and environs is about, this set is tailor made for you. And it also makes it obvious that the musical community owes Strachwitz recognition for following through on his passion for music with heart.

This review is copyright © 2000 by Tony Glover, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission. For permission to use this review please send an E-mail to Ray Stiles.

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