In 1959, a California schoolteacher and blues fanatic named Chris Strachwitz got word that Lightnin' Hopkins was living and playing in Houston. Strachwitz drove to Texas as soon as he could, loved what he heard, and returned the next year with a tape recorder. Before he knew it, he was running a music label.
That company, Arhoolie, was a labor of love: Joel Selvin writes in the new book Down Home Music that a critic once "told Strachwitz that he didn't have a record label—he had a hobby." Whatever you call it, it was an essential resource for fans of blues, norteño, Cajun, country, and other sorts of vernacular music.
