Texas artists and Arhoolie folk label celebrate 60 years with streaming concert
This past week, Chris Strachwitz's life's work was honored at a virtual 60th-anniversary party in which noted Arhoolie enthusiasts such as ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Los Tigres…
Andrew Dansby December 13, 2020Updated: December 15, 2020, 10:28 am
Mance Lipscomb, left, played in Navasota when Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz met him. They’re shown in 1964. Photo: Chris Simon & Maureen Gosling
Chris Strachwitz showed up in Texas without much of a plan. He knew he wanted to record the storied blues player Lightnin’ Hopkins, and that was about the extent of his endeavor as an aspiring musicologist. Strachwitz instead found himself following a trail to Navasota trying to track down another musician noted for singing a song about Tom Moore, a plantation owner. He found Mance Lipscomb, who played some songs. Strachwitz recorded them, and upon his return to California he set about putting those recordings into the world on his new label, Arhoolie.