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.
Various Artists
Arhoolie 40th Anniversary Collection 1960-2000: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz
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AllMusic Review by Jeff Burger
Track Listing - Disc 1
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jesse Fuller | 03:44 | Amazon | ||||
2 | K.C. Douglas | 02:49 | Amazon | ||||
3 | Mance Lipscomb | 02:52 | Amazon | ||||
4 | 02:31 | Amazon | |||||
5 | Robert Curtis Smith / Wade Walton | 02:26 | Amazon | ||||
6 | Butch Cage / Willie Thomas | 04:47 | Amazon | ||||
7 | The Hodges Brothers | 02:54 | Amazon | ||||
8 | Alex Moore | 03:07 | Amazon | ||||
9 | Black Ace | 04:16 | Amazon | ||||
10 | Big Joe Williams | 03:38 | Amazon | ||||
11 | Mercy Dee | 02:48 | Amazon | ||||
12 | R.C. Smith | 02:27 | Amazon | ||||
13 |
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00:54 | Amazon | ||||
14 | Albert Chevalier | 03:57 | Amazon | ||||
15 | Lightnin' Hopkins | 03:51 | Amazon | ||||
16 | Blind James Campbell | 02:20 | Amazon | ||||
17 | Rev. Louis Overstreet | 02:41 | Amazon | ||||
18 | George Lewis | 05:12 | Amazon | ||||
19 | J.E. Mainer | 03:02 | Amazon | ||||
20 | Hackberry Ramblers | 02:14 | Amazon | ||||
21 | Booker T. Washington White | 03:03 | Amazon | ||||
22 | Clifton Chenier | 02:26 | Amazon | ||||
23 | Mississippi Fred McDowell | 03:37 | Amazon | ||||
24 | Mance Lipscomb | 03:35 | Amazon | ||||
25 | Clifton Chenier | 03:03 | Amazon |
Track Listing - Disc 2
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | John Jackson | 02:10 | Amazon | ||||
2 | Big Mama Thornton | 04:27 | Amazon | ||||
3 | Isom Fontenot | 01:34 | Amazon | ||||
4 | Nathan Abshire / The Balfa Brothers | 03:29 | Amazon | ||||
5 | 02:30 | Amazon | |||||
6 | Del McCoury | 02:41 | Amazon | ||||
7 | Jerry Hahn Quintet | 06:29 | Amazon | ||||
8 | Juke Boy Bonner | 02:59 | Amazon | ||||
9 | Johnny Young | 02:54 | Amazon | ||||
10 | Earl Hooker | 04:20 | Amazon | ||||
11 | John Littlejohn | 04:48 | Amazon | ||||
12 | Bee Houston | 03:11 | Amazon | ||||
13 | Sonny Simmons | 06:09 | Amazon | ||||
14 | Bongo Joe | 03:15 | Amazon | ||||
15 | Whistlin' Alex Moore | 05:06 | Amazon | ||||
16 | Big Joe Williams | 02:53 | Amazon | ||||
17 | Lightnin' Hopkins | 04:14 | Amazon | ||||
18 | Mississippi Fred McDowell / Johnny Woods | 03:09 | Amazon | ||||
19 | Los Pingüinos del Norte | 05:17 | Amazon | ||||
20 | The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra | 03:03 | Amazon | ||||
21 | Charlie Musselwhite | 03:56 | Amazon |
Track Listing - Disc 3
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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Austin Pitre | 03:13 | Amazon | |||
2 | 03:36 | Amazon | |||||
3 |
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Charles Ford Band | 03:48 | Amazon | |||
4 | L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson | 06:20 | Amazon | ||||
5 | 02:56 | Amazon | |||||
6 |
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Canray Fontenot / Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin & Sons | 03:19 | Amazon | |||
7 | Bill Neely | 02:43 | Amazon | ||||
8 | Narciso Martínez | 02:02 | Amazon | ||||
9 | Trio San Antonio | 03:47 | Amazon | ||||
10 | Trio San Antonio | 02:22 | Amazon | ||||
11 | J.C. Burris | 03:50 | Amazon | ||||
12 | Clifton Chenier | 03:15 | Amazon | ||||
13 | Dewey Balfa / D.L. Menard / Marc Savoy | 04:19 | Amazon | ||||
14 | Chavela Ortiz | 03:54 | Amazon | ||||
15 |
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Robert Shaw | 01:57 | Amazon | |||
16 | Any Old Time String Band | 04:50 | Amazon | ||||
17 |
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Conjunto Alma Jarocha | 02:08 | Amazon | |||
18 |
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Los Caporales de Panuco | 03:37 | Amazon | |||
19 |
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The Klezmorim | 03:07 | Amazon | |||
20 | 02:24 | Amazon | |||||
21 | Don Santiago Jimenez, Sr. | 02:52 | Amazon | ||||
22 |
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Lydia Mendoza | 02:50 | Amazon |
Track Listing - Disc 4
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Flaco Jiménez | 03:35 | Amazon | ||||
2 | John Delafose | 02:13 | Amazon | ||||
3 | Rose Maddox | 02:10 | Amazon | ||||
4 | Canray Fontenot | 02:24 | Amazon | ||||
5 | Octa Clark / Hector Duhon | 03:15 | Amazon | ||||
6 |
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Santiago Jimenez, Jr. | 02:43 | Amazon | |||
7 | BeauSoleil / Michael Doucet | 03:27 | Amazon | ||||
8 | Preston Frank | 02:21 | Amazon | ||||
9 | Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band | 03:53 | Amazon | ||||
10 | Wade Frugé | 02:11 | Amazon | ||||
11 | Chuck Guillory | 03:34 | Amazon | ||||
12 | Rebirth Brass Band | 03:54 | Amazon | ||||
13 | Katie Webster | 03:49 | Amazon | ||||
14 | Lawrence "Black" Ardoin | 03:06 | Amazon | ||||
15 | Flaco Jiménez | 03:25 | Amazon | ||||
16 | Los Campesinos de Michoacán | 02:24 | Amazon | ||||
17 | Odile Falcon | 00:58 | Amazon | ||||
18 | Michael Doucet | 02:29 | Amazon | ||||
19 | BeauSoleil | 03:39 | Amazon | ||||
20 | C.J. Chenier | 03:20 | Amazon | ||||
21 | Valerio Longoria, Sr. | 04:31 | Amazon | ||||
22 |
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03:27 | Amazon | ||||
23 |
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Omar Shariff | 04:27 | Amazon |
Track Listing - Disc 5
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
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The Paramount Singers | 03:22 | Amazon | |||
2 |
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Chatuye | 04:39 | Amazon | |||
3 | Aziz Herawi | 04:36 | Amazon | ||||
4 | Ivan Cuesta | 03:05 | Amazon | ||||
5 |
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Treme Brass Band | 09:17 | Amazon | |||
6 | Roma Wilson | 02:23 | Amazon | ||||
7 | Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band | 06:47 | Amazon | ||||
8 | Los Cenzontles | 02:21 | Amazon | ||||
9 | Rose Maddox | 02:50 | Amazon | ||||
10 |
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03:48 | Amazon | ||||
11 |
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Sonny Treadway | 04:21 | Amazon | |||
12 |
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Csókolom | 01:43 | Amazon | |||
13 |
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José Antonio Moreno | 02:21 | Amazon | |||
14 | Santiago Jimenez, Jr. | 05:03 | Amazon | ||||
15 | The Campbell Brothers | 08:22 | Amazon | ||||
16 | Aubrey Ghent | 04:28 | Amazon |