Chris Strachwitz, the founder of Arhoolie Records — an indispensable label for American roots music, from blues and zydeco to gospel and Mexican folk, for nearly seven decades — has died at the age of 91.
The German-born Strachwitz “died peacefully” Friday “at home in Marin County, CA, surrounded in his last days by dear friends and family,” the Arhoolie Foundation announced on social media Saturday; the non-profit was established by Strachwitz to preserve much of the music he’d unearthed since establishing the label in 1960.
“Over his 91 years, Chris captured the music...
The German-born Strachwitz “died peacefully” Friday “at home in Marin County, CA, surrounded in his last days by dear friends and family,” the Arhoolie Foundation announced on social media Saturday; the non-profit was established by Strachwitz to preserve much of the music he’d unearthed since establishing the label in 1960.
“Over his 91 years, Chris captured the music...
- 5/6/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Bonnie Raitt and Zz Top’s Billy Gibbons are among the artists set to perform at a special free virtual concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the famed folk label, Arhoolie Records, December 10th at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt.
The concert will air on YouTube and will be hosted by Nick Spitzer of the syndicated public radio music show, American Routes. Other performers include Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Charlie Musselwhite, Del McCoury, Los Texmaniacs, Los Tigres del Norte, Savoy Family Band, La Marisoul, Cedric Watson, and the Campbell Brothers.
The concert will air on YouTube and will be hosted by Nick Spitzer of the syndicated public radio music show, American Routes. Other performers include Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Charlie Musselwhite, Del McCoury, Los Texmaniacs, Los Tigres del Norte, Savoy Family Band, La Marisoul, Cedric Watson, and the Campbell Brothers.
- 12/1/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Even the subject of the slight, likable doc This Ain't No Mouse Music would admit that he's not the most fascinating person in the picture. Chris Strachwitz has dedicated his life to recording, preserving, and releasing the deepest of roots musics, tracking down performers connected to the oldest of folk ways and bringing them to the world via Arhoolie Records, the label Strachwitz founded a half-century ago with Mance Lipscomb's Texas Sharecropper and Songster. If it had been titled like Strachwitz titles LPs, Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling's loose-limbed film could be named California Archivist, Music-Lover, and Record-Store Proprietor, which makes him an interesting guy, but once the people he documents turn up, This Ain't No Mouse Music b...
- 9/24/2014
- Village Voice
Born in Germany and transplanted as a teenager with his family to California after World War II, Chris Strachwitz was knocked out the first time he encountered Dixieland jazz. He explored other streams of indigenous American music—blues, country, gospel—with the same thrilling result. He’d found his calling: Finding, recording and releasing the songs of musicians essentially unknown outside their small communities. To this day, his Bay Area-based label of love, Arhoolie Records, is all about the artists. Strachwitz receives his own solo, backed by a stellar group of sidemen and women, via the toe-tapping, heart-swelling documentary This Ain’t No Mouse Music. Finally hitting theaters more than a year after its triumphant premiere at South x Southwest, the film is the handiwork of veteran filmmakers Maureen Gosling and Chris Simon, who were introduced to Chris Strachwitz some thirty years ago by their mentor, Les Blank, the shy...
- 9/15/2014
- Keyframe
Born in Germany and transplanted as a teenager with his family to California after World War II, Chris Strachwitz was knocked out the first time he encountered Dixieland jazz. He explored other streams of indigenous American music—blues, country, gospel—with the same thrilling result. He’d found his calling: Finding, recording and releasing the songs of musicians essentially unknown outside their small communities. To this day, his Bay Area-based label of love, Arhoolie Records, is all about the artists. Strachwitz receives his own solo, backed by a stellar group of sidemen and women, via the toe-tapping, heart-swelling documentary This Ain’t No Mouse Music. Finally hitting theaters more than a year after its triumphant premiere at South x Southwest, the film is the handiwork of veteran filmmakers Maureen Gosling and Chris Simon, who were introduced to Chris Strachwitz some thirty years ago by their mentor, Les Blank, the shy...
- 9/15/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
The 2013 Americana Music Honors & Awards was held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville yesterday evening, with duos Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and Shovels & Rope receiving the bulk of last night’s fanfare, the former earning the album of the year nod for Old Yellow Moon. “This album was conceived almost 40 years ago, when Rodney and I first met and started collaborating,” Harris said. The Americana Music Association also issued lifetime achievement awards to Dr. John, Duane Eddy, Robert Hunter and Chris Strachwitz, the founder of Arhoolie Records. Hank Williams was posthumously awarded the President’s award, which...
- 9/19/2013
- Pastemagazine.com
Film-maker behind intimate, rounded portraits of musicians including Dizzy Gillespie and Lightnin' Hopkins
Les Blank and Werner Herzog: strange dreams and sole food
The film-maker Les Blank, who has died aged 77, explored the margins of America's music, capturing and framing idioms such as Louisiana Cajun and zydeco, the norteño music of the Texas-Mexico border, blues, polka, and Appalachian old-time music. He was also fascinated by traditions of eating and cookery, and when screening his film Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) he sometimes created what he called "smellovision" by cooking garlicky dishes in the auditorium.
Blank made more than 40 films, including Burden of Dreams (1982), about the shooting of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. While few of his documentaries were known to a wide public, many were admired by other directors. In 2007, he received the Edward MacDowell medal, an annual award for achievement in the arts, only twice before given to film directors,...
Les Blank and Werner Herzog: strange dreams and sole food
The film-maker Les Blank, who has died aged 77, explored the margins of America's music, capturing and framing idioms such as Louisiana Cajun and zydeco, the norteño music of the Texas-Mexico border, blues, polka, and Appalachian old-time music. He was also fascinated by traditions of eating and cookery, and when screening his film Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) he sometimes created what he called "smellovision" by cooking garlicky dishes in the auditorium.
Blank made more than 40 films, including Burden of Dreams (1982), about the shooting of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. While few of his documentaries were known to a wide public, many were admired by other directors. In 2007, he received the Edward MacDowell medal, an annual award for achievement in the arts, only twice before given to film directors,...
- 4/12/2013
- by Tony Russell
- The Guardian - Film News
Documentary director best known for his unusual collaborations with German director Herzog died earlier today Les Blank, among whose directorial efforts is the British Film Academy-winning documentary Burden of Dreams, about the bizarre events surrounding the making of Werner Herzog's Amazon-set Fitzcarraldo, died in Berkeley, California, earlier today, according to an article found on the web site Deadline.com. Blank, who had been suffering from cancer, was 77. Pictured above: Herzog is the maddeningly obsessive star of the 1982 documentary Burden of Dreams. Near the end of the 1960s, Blank was directing industrial and promotional shorts in order to bankroll his i documentary shorts, including Chicago Film Festival winner The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1969) and God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (1969), about the burgeoning "flower children" scene. Music and the cultural context encompassing it were frequent themes in Blank's work. Examples include the norteño...
- 4/7/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
With its origin in music and a 20-year history of supporting mainstream and independent film, Austin’s SXSW creates a unique atmosphere where both universes sometimes collide to create splendid works of art. This year’s festival managed to once again create a unique melding of music and film via the documentary This Ain't No Mouse Music! It's a heartfelt movie that tells the story of Chris Strachwitz and his unique music label Arhoolie Records.
Directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling, This Ain't No Mouse Music! spans a period of over 50 years. Strachwitz's story begins in the summer of 1960 when he travelled to Navasota, Texas to record songwriter and guitarist Mance Lipscomb. During the same trip, Chris also met and recorded legendary bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins. In order to promote these two legendary musicians, Chris founded his own record label, Arhoolie Records. It was all melody from there.
read more...
Directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling, This Ain't No Mouse Music! spans a period of over 50 years. Strachwitz's story begins in the summer of 1960 when he travelled to Navasota, Texas to record songwriter and guitarist Mance Lipscomb. During the same trip, Chris also met and recorded legendary bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins. In order to promote these two legendary musicians, Chris founded his own record label, Arhoolie Records. It was all melody from there.
read more...
- 3/25/2013
- by Rod Paddock
- Slackerwood
It truly is the Year of Adele, as the British singer took home every Grammy she was for which she was nominated, totaling six wins altogether, including Album, Record and Song of the Year. Foo Fighters were second for total wins, with five, followed by the absent Kanye West with four wins.
The complete list of winners:
Album Of The Year:
21 -- Adele
Wasting Light -- Foo Fighters
Born This Way -- Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans -- Bruno Mars
Loud -- Rihanna
Record Of The Year:
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele
"Holocene" -- Bon Iver
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Firework" -- Katy Perry
Best New Artist: (artist/producer)
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
Song Of The Year: (songwriter)
"All Of The Lights" -- Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters
(Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and...
The complete list of winners:
Album Of The Year:
21 -- Adele
Wasting Light -- Foo Fighters
Born This Way -- Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans -- Bruno Mars
Loud -- Rihanna
Record Of The Year:
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele
"Holocene" -- Bon Iver
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Firework" -- Katy Perry
Best New Artist: (artist/producer)
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
Song Of The Year: (songwriter)
"All Of The Lights" -- Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters
(Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and...
- 2/13/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Washington, Dec 21: Elvis Presley has been nominated for a posthumous Grammy Award.
'Young Man With the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters', a five-cd box set of the star's early recordings, has been tipped in the Best Historical Album category by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The release will go up against records by singers including Sir Paul McCartney and Chris Strachwitz at the ceremony, which will be held in Los Angeles on Feb 12, Contactmusic reported.
The King of Rock and Roll garnered 14 Grammy nominations and won three during his lifetime.
He died at the.
'Young Man With the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters', a five-cd box set of the star's early recordings, has been tipped in the Best Historical Album category by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The release will go up against records by singers including Sir Paul McCartney and Chris Strachwitz at the ceremony, which will be held in Los Angeles on Feb 12, Contactmusic reported.
The King of Rock and Roll garnered 14 Grammy nominations and won three during his lifetime.
He died at the.
- 12/21/2011
- by Amith Ostwal
- RealBollywood.com
Elvis Presley has been nominated for a posthumous Grammy Award. Young Man With the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters, a collection of the singer's early material, is up for the top prize in the 'Best Historical Album' category. Sir Paul McCartney and Chris Strachwitz are among the other artists nominated for the gong by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Presley, often referred to as the King of Rock 'n' Roll, earned 14 (more)...
- 12/21/2011
- by By Mark Langshaw
- Digital Spy
The nominees have been announced for the 54th annual Grammy Awards. Kanye West leads the nominations with seven; Adele, Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars each garner six nods; and Lil Wayne and Skrillex each are up for five awards. The Grammys air live on CBS Feb. 12, 2012.
Album Of The Year:
21 -- Adele
Wasting Light -- Foo Fighters
Born This Way -- Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans -- Bruno Mars
Loud -- Rihanna
Record Of The Year:
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele
"Holocene" -- Bon Iver
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Firework" -- Katy Perry
Best New Artist: (artist/producer)
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
Song Of The Year: (songwriter)
"All Of The Lights" -- Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters
(Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie)
"The Cave" -- Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Country Winston,...
Album Of The Year:
21 -- Adele
Wasting Light -- Foo Fighters
Born This Way -- Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans -- Bruno Mars
Loud -- Rihanna
Record Of The Year:
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele
"Holocene" -- Bon Iver
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Firework" -- Katy Perry
Best New Artist: (artist/producer)
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex
Song Of The Year: (songwriter)
"All Of The Lights" -- Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West, songwriters
(Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie)
"The Cave" -- Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Country Winston,...
- 12/1/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
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