A restless young German immigrant named Chris Strachwitz developed a fascination with American jazz, blues and roots music. His recordings fueled a massive movement due to his timely capture of true vine musicians. During his college years in Pomona, California he began recording Lightnin’ Hopkins and the obsession snowballed. The Arhoolie label he founded in 1960 is synonymous with a huge deep well (over 9000 CD releases) of roots material ranging from Folk , Country Blues, Cajun and Zydeco, Conjunto and Tex Mex, continuing on to blazing Sacred Steel and most recently Austrian fiddle music. Aside from the Smithsonian Folkways collection, Arhoolie represents the most extensive collection of vernacular music on the planet.
Here Chris Talks about seeing Lightnin Hopkins in the early 50’s.
Long rooted in the tight knit SF east bay folk and roots scene, Chris and the staff of the Freight and Salvage have put together three nights of shows coming up in early February. The lineup is simply awe inspiring and is an extremely rare chance to see many of these artists in a small club.
Friday, February 5, (all shows at Freight and Salvage. Berkeley CA)
Santiago Jimenez, Jr. w/ La Familia Peña-Govea, Los Cenzontles, Ry Cooder, Any Old Time String Band, BeauSoleil Trio w/ Michael Doucet, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Peter Rowan
Saturday, February 6,
Goodtime Washboard 3, Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Barbara Dane w/ Bob Mielke Jazz All-Stars and Lars Edegran, Creole Belles, the Tremè Brass Band
Sunday, Febraury 7,
Los Cenzontles, Suzy & Eric Thompson, Country Joe McDonald, Campbell Brothers, Savoy Family Band, Taj Mahal
