Down Home Music chronicles Arhoolie Records evolution with photos and stories

Before passing, Arhoolie boss Chris Strachwitz assembled a compendium of his photos & stories with SF Chronicle's Joel Selvin.

Here's the scoop on Down Home Music...

Down Home Music: The Stories and Photographs of Chris Strachwitz (out November 14th) is a visual storytelling celebration of American roots music in its rich variety through unseen and newly scanned photographs by the founder of the legendary Arhoolie Records.

Founded in 1960 by Chris Strachwitz, the one-man operation Arhoolie Records eventually produced more than four hundred albums during more than forty years in operation, exploring the far corners of American vernacular music-blues, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, hillbilly, Texas-Mexican norteno music, and more.

From the very beginning, Strachwitz brought his camera along with recording equipment as he met and recorded now-legendary artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Clifton Chenier, and Big Joe Williams. This book collects more than 150 of his best, most intimate, and exciting images-many never-before-seen-each with rich captions by Strachwitz and award-winning music journalist Joel Selvin, along with a substantial 20,000-word essay by Selvin about Arhoolie, Strachwitz, and the music.

INTIMATE AND AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS: Although Strachwitz would always self-deprecatingly claim that the photographs he took while meeting and recording musicians were strictly documentary, and *maybe* of some use for a record sleeve later, they are much more than that. Lyrical, candid, real: His rapport with the musicians and their families is glowing and evident in these photographs.

RIVETING MUSIC HISTORY PHOTO BOOK: These are never-before-seen photos, and photos like you've never seen before. Every image is from freshly remastered scans, and the authors dove deep into the Arhoolie archives to uncover images almost no one has had the chance to see.

CRUCIAL AMERICAN MUSIC AND CULTURAL HISTORY: Strachwitz's wide-ranging interest and unbridled enthusiasm for all sorts of roots music led to his crisscrossing the country from artist to artist based on recommendations, rumor, tips, radio broadcasts-the result being a portrait (in sound for the label, and image in this book) of vital American music in a wide range of genres. He has rich stories for each photograph and artist.

AN INVALUABLE DOCUMENT: Arhoolie fundamentally shaped our understanding of American music. Longtime San Francisco Chronicle music journalist Joel Selvin has not only worked with Strachwitz to draw out the stories behind the photographs, but he has contributed an invaluable long-form essay about Arhoolie, Strachwitz, and the label's cultural legacy to anchor this incredible book.

Down Home Music: The Stories and Photographs of Chris Strachwitz is slated to be published on November 14th but you can pre-order a copy right here. Check out the Arhoolie Records companion documentary also called Down Home Music right here. 

What musicians are saying about Down Home Music

“You hold in your hands a monumental treasure! Without the aid of Chris’s humanity, foresight, dedication, and love in recording these artists on wax, films, and photographs, this whole genre might have suffered and sustained massive dis-inclusion, lost forever, slipping away without a trace of existing. Go forth and enjoy it with great respect for a Man who made sure you didn’t miss the music and images of the unheard and unseen. Thank you, Chris.” —Taj Mahal

“Chris Strachwitz is a heroic figure if ever there was. This book gets to the root of roots music and tells the story of Arhoolie most brilliantly. Arhoolie all right!” —Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top

“No one has meant more to the preservation and appreciation of Americana roots music than Chris Strachwitz. He turned me on to Mississippi Fred McDowell and so many other greats. With his passion for the artists as people as well their culture, the creation of Arhoolie Records and Down Home Music, he’s given us some of the most thrilling and unique music we’ll ever know. How great that Chris and Joel have collaborated on telling his fascinating story in this wonderful book.” —Bonnie Raitt

“Hey Chris: I wanna buy you a Mercury and cruise you up and down the road. Chris Strachwitz’s life-journey led him to become one of the world’s greatest musicologists. Were Lightnin’ Hopkins, K. C. Douglas, and a host of other cultural giants alive today, they would all say, Thank you, Chris Strachwitz. Thank you for your passion, tireless work, and generosity. Me too.” —Steve Miller

“I traveled through South Texas with Chris for a few days once. He had his tape machine, a change of clothes, and a twenty-five-pound sack of oranges. Texas is big, you know. Five hundred miles a day—he stopped to eat only to be polite. He wore me out, but I learned a lot. The border Mexicans called him “El Fanático.” Chris is a really nice man—he liked the musicians, they liked him back. Even Mario Montes, the accordion player of Los Donneños, who had no use for white people, put up with him. Then, it was drink your orange juice, get in the car, and drive. Viva El Fanático!” —Ry Cooder