Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: 1960-2000: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz

Disc 1
1	San Francisco Bay Blues / Jesse Fuller previously unreleased 3:44
2	Mercury Blues / K.C. Douglas 2:49
3	Shake, Shake Mama / Mance Lipscomb 2:52
4	Cairo Blues / Lil' Son Jackson 2:31
5	Barbershop Rhythm / Wade Walton 2:26
6	One Thin Dime / Butch Cage 4:47
7	Charmin' Betsy / The Hodges Brothers 2:54
8	Whistlin' Alex Moore's Blues / Alex Moore 3:07
9	I Am the Black Ace / Black Ace 4:16
10	Brother James / Big Joe Williams 3:38
11	Lady Luck / Mercy Dee 2:48
12	Don't Drive Me Away / R.C. Smith 2:27
13	Zydeco Introduction / Zydeco Announcer 0:54
14	Bernadette Chere / Albert Chevalier 3:57
15	Bald Headed Woman / Lightnin' Hopkins 3:51
16	Baby Please Don't Go / Blind James Campbell 2:20
17	Believe on Me / Rev. Louis Overstreet 2:41
18	Low Down Blues / George Lewis previously unreleased 5:12
19	The Country Blues / J.E. Mainer 3:02
20	Crowley Waltz / Hackberry Ramblers 2:14
21	She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain / Booker T. Washington White 3:03
22	Ay, Ai Ai / Clifton Chenier 2:26
23	Write Me a Few Lines / Mississippi Fred McDowell 3:37
24	James, Charlie / Mance Lipscomb 3:35
25	Louisiana Blues / Clifton Chenier 3:03
Disc 2
1	Cindy / John Jackson 2:10
2	Little Red Rooster / Big Mama Thornton 4:27
3	La Betaille / Isom Fontenot 1:34
4	Calcasieu Waltz / Nathan Abshire 3:29
5	Almlied / Eibisberger Duo 2:30
6	I Wonder Where You Are Tonight / Del McCoury 2:41
7	In the Breeze / Jerry Hahn Quintet 6:29
8	Going Back to the Country / Juke Boy Bonner 2:59
9	Sometimes I Cry / Johnny Young 2:54
10	Two Bugs and a Roach / Earl Hooker 4:20
11	Dream / John Littlejohn 4:48
12	Things Gonna Get Better / Bee Houston 3:11
13	Visions / Sonny Simmons 6:09
14	I Wish I Could Sing / Bongo Joe 3:15
15	Boogieing in Strasbourg / Whistlin' Alex Moore 5:06
16	The Death of Doctor King / Big Joe Williams 2:53
17	Please Settle in Vietnam / Lightnin' Hopkins 4:14
18	Shake 'Em on Down / Johnny Woods 3:09
19	El Desesperado / Los Pinguinos del Norte Corrido 5:17
20	Creole Belles / The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra 3:03
21	Finger Lickin' Good / Charlie Musselwhite 3:56
Disc 3
1	Church Point Breakdown / Austin Pitre 3:13
2	Gstanzelm Aus Dem Freistriztal / Original Herberstein Trio 3:36
3	Gibson Creek Shuffle / Charles Ford Band 3:48
4	Ups and Downs / L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson 6:20
5	You Ain't Got a Chance / Willie Perryman 2:56
6	Home Sweet Home / Canray Fontenot 3:19
7	Satan's Burning Hell / Bill Neely 2:43
8	Luzita / Narciso Martínez Marzurka 2:02
9	Yo Me Enamore / Trio San Antonio Cancion 3:47
10	Borracho Perdido / Trio San Antonio Ranchera 2:22
11	One of These Mornings (I'm Checkin' Out) / J.C. Burris 3:50
12	Allons a Grand Coteau (Let's Go to Grand Coteau) / Clifton Chenier 3:15
13	Under the Green Oak Tree (En Bas du Chêne Vert) / Dewey Balfa 4:19
14	Besos y Copas / Chavela Ortiz Ranchera 3:54
15	Fast Santa Fe (Bear Cat) / Robert Shaw 1:57
16	I'll See You in C-U-B-A / Any Old Time String Band 4:50
17	El Balaj / Conjunto Alma Jarocha 2:08
18	La Gata / Los Caporales de Panuco 3:37
19	Beym Rebns Sude (At The Rebbe's Meal) / The Klezmorim 3:07
20	J' Ai Laisse de la Maiso / Cheese Reed 2:24
21	Ay Te Dejo en San Antonio / Don Santiago Jimenez Sr. Ranchera 2:52
22	Mi Problema / Lydia Mendoza 2:50
Disc 4
1	Grítenme Piedras del Campo / Flaco Jiménez Ranchera 3:35
2	Co-Fé? (Why?) / John Delafose 2:13
3	Single Girl / Rose Maddox 2:10
4	Bee de la Manche / Canray Fontenot 2:24
5	Bosco Stomp / Octa Clark 3:15
6	Negra Ausencia / Santiago Jimenez Jr. 2:43
7	La Chanson de Cinquante Sous / Beausoleil previously unreleased 3:27
8	Shake What You Got / Preston Frank 2:21
9	'Tits Yeux Noirs (Little Black Eyes) / Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band 3:53
10	The Chill of a Saturday Afternoon / Wade Frugé 2:11
11	Jolie Blonde / Chuck Guillory 3:34
12	Here to Stay (P.I.E.) / Rebirth Brass Band 3:54
13	I Know That's Right / Katie Webster 3:49
14	I've Been There / Lawrence "Black" Ardoin 3:06
15	Mentiste Cuando Dijiste / Flaco Jiménez Ranchera 3:25
16	Aguililla / Los Campesinos de Michoacán Huapango 2:24
17	La Reine de la Salle (The Queen of the Dance Hall) / Odile Falcon 0:58
18	Chanson de la Sagesse (Ballad Of Wisdom) / Michael Doucet 2:29
19	Hot Chili Mama / Beausoleil 3:39
20	Check Out the Zydeco / C.J. Chenier 3:20
21	El Canoero / Valerio Longoria Sr. Cumbia 4:31
22	Corrido del Mono (Ballad of "The Monkey") / Los Gavilanes De Oakland Tragedia en Palo Alto 3:27
23	San Francisco Can Be Such a Lonely Town / Omar Shariff 4:27
Disc 5
1	Mother / The Paramount Singers 3:22
2	Gumagarrugu / Chatuye 4:39
3	Khandan -E Amaturi III / Aziz Herawi 4:36
4	A Ti, Colombia / Ivan Cuesta 3:05
5	Food Stamp Blues / Treme Brass Band 9:17
6	Ain't It a Shame / Roma Wilson 2:23
7	J'Ai Été au Bal / Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band 6:47
8	La Mal Sentada / Los Cenzontles Ranchera 2:21
9	Falling for You / Rose Maddox 2:50
10	Los Traficantes del Bravo / Paomares Del Bravo previously unreleased 3:48
11	Jesus Will Fix It for You / Sonny Treadway 4:21
12	Medved Na Lancu (The Bear on the Chain) / Csokolom 1:43
13	Jale Griego / José Antonio Moreno 2:21
14	El Corrido de Esquiel Hernandez / Santiago Jimenez Jr. 5:03
15	What's His Name?...Jesus! / The Campbell Brothers 8:22
16	Just a Closer Walk with Thee / Aubrey Ghent 4:28

Barnes & Noble

Chris Strachwitz, a long, tall German with a thing for Texas and Gulf Coast music, has been recording blues, zydeco, Tex-Mex, and various other Southern roots and ethnic genres for four decades. Now six hours of his journey from front porches to juke joints and recording studios comes handsomely packaged as the five-CD set Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection. Included are cuts that have become classics in the blues library -- K. C. Douglas's "Mercury Blues," Big Mama Thornton's "Little Red Rooster," and Earl Hooker's "Two Bugs and a Roach" -- as well as startling gems by the likes of Flaco Jimenez and others, strung together like pearls, shiny chunks of coal, and scrap metal. An Austrian couple, the Eibelsberger Duo were captured in a pasture on their farm in 1967 for "Almlied." Sitting next to this Alpine wonder is bluegrass singer and guitarist Del McCoury's lonesome "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," recorded with a remarkable vividness in a Pennsylvania home. Then comes avant-garde guitarist Jerry Hahn for a swinging "In the Breeze" with a band that features the marvelous violinist Michael White and the legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette. Cap off this run of tunes with bluesman Juke Boy Bonner's 1968 version of "I'm Goin' Back to the Country," which sounds remarkably pertinent when he talks about escaping from urban warfare, and you get a musical mix that would sound like yesterday's goulash in the hands of a producer less sensitive than Strachwitz. Also, when you put the music in the context of the hippie era in California, the set becomes a document of times when the ears of uprooted youth were thirsting for something other than the Top 40. Strachwitz gave them a deep well of listening, helping to spark an interest in blues and ethnic music from various pockets around the globe that continues today. Along with the five CDs comes a 68-page booklet full of snapshots and Strachwitz's recollections of the artists and recording sessions. But Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection. is more than the producer's personal journey. It's an introduction to artists that even the most careful listener may have missed. But not to worry; there are whole CDs from the performers within this set, all of them available on the Arhoolie label. Roberta Penn

All Music Guide

Combine a great ear for music with a firm commitment to recording only what you personally like and you've got the formula that has fueled Arhoolie Records for 40 years. Founder Chris Strachwitz -- a German immigrant and former schoolteacher -- may have seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of the great compilers of regional American popular music, but that's sure what he turned out to be. This five-disc, 95-artist label retrospective is truly monumental. On disc one, which begins before Arhoolie's launch and covers 1954-1965, blues dominate. By the the time you've worked your way through all six hours of this collection, though, you'll understand why Strachwitz could never make it as a DJ even on a blues radio station; not only does he eschew mainstream commercial music, he couldn't possibly live within any format. Just when you think you've got Arhoolie pegged as a blues label, on comes a folk number. You settle into a zydeco groove, and the set shifts into gospel. Or Tex-Mex. There's also some bluegrass here. And jazz. Incredibly, all of this music makes some sort of sense together and the quality never flags throughout. Though the bulk of the package's greatest treats come from virtual unknowns (more than a few recorded in their own homes), you may already be familiar with some of these artists, including Jesse Fuller, K.C. Douglas, Mance Lipscomb, Clifton Chenier, and Flaco Jimenez. The accompanying 68-page, 41,000-word color "booklet" is more like a book. Co-producer Elijah Wald limited selections to recordings that Strachwitz himself made or supervised -- keeping the box from mushrooming beyond five discs -- but this meant the elimination of other great material. That will have to wait for the next box. Jeff Burger