Arhoolie Records
| Arhoolie Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Smithsonian Institution |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Founder | Chris Strachwitz |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | El Cerrito, California |
| Official website | www |
Arhoolie Records, which is based in El Cerrito, California, United States, is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz. The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and produce music by previously obscure "down-home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin, and Bill Gaither. Arhoolie still publishes blues and folk music, Tejano music including Lydia Mendoza, Los Alegres de Teran, Flaco Jimenez, regional Mexican music, cajun, zydeco, and bluegrass.
Chris Strachwitz immigrated with his family from Silesia in 1947, and became enamored with American regional music after seeing the film New Orleans (film). He eventually settled in the San Francisco bay area, and in 1960 he headed to Texas to record bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, but it turned out that Hopkins was in Berkeley for a performance engagement. He met up with historian Mack McCormick, and together they traveled to Navasota, Texas where Strachwitz recorded Mance Lipscomb for what would become the first Arhoolie LP, Texas Sharecropper and Songster. The name "Arhoolie" was suggested by McCormick, deriving from a word for a field holler. Strachwitz also recorded "Black Ace" Turner, "Li'l Son" Jackson and "Whistling" Alex Moore on the same trip, and later in the year recorded Big Joe Williams and Mercy Dee Walton in California.
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