Five Decades of Arhoolie by BARRY MAZOR
 |
| Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz (left) with Ry Cooder. | |
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.
Arhoolie (the word refers to shouting-out-loud field hollers), the child
of Chris Strachwitz, a music-struck German émigré, celebrated its
50-plus years last February in a three-day celebration that featured
concerts at San Francisco's Freight & Salvage. Those shows are now
on "They All Played for Us," a lavish 4-CD set with a hardbound book of
commentary and colorful photography, released by the label last month.
Arhoolie veterans are joined by such admiring, label-influenced
roots-music stars as Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal and Peter Rowan on some 70
exuberant tracks. (
read more)
1 comment:
Post a Comment