ARHOOLIE FOUNDATION COLLECTIONS:Audio Interviews
Audio interviews by Chris Strachwitz during his research into the music he was recording for his label Arhoolie Records as well as for his radio programs on KPFA-FM (Berkeley, CA) in the 1960’s through 1980’s, and by Dr. Manuel Peña during his research for his several books on Mexican American music.
Paul Oliver Interview
In this hour long interview, British blues historian and author Paul Oliver and Chris Strachwitz discuss the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, blues, American music, culture, and much more.
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K.C. Douglas Interview – Blues
“This guy, when the high water was in 1927, the Mississippi River had all that, they had all kind of”…”The guy made a record called “Barbecue Bob” about Mississippi Heavy Water Blues.”…”That’s the biggest high water they ever had in the Mississippi River. That’s the time, oh man. Washing houses and everybody, people was going down there to sit on top of houses, just going on out.”
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Joe Patek Interview – Czech Polka
“We don’t do it for money, [or] trying to make a living out of it. We do it for hobby because we love music. I don’t go fishing. I don’t go hunting. I don’t own a gun and don’t own a fishing pole but I’ll go 150 and 200 miles to play a dance.”
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Blues Musician Big Joe Williams Interview 1960
Born in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi in 1903, Joe Lee “Big Joe” Williams is a renowned blues musician known for his use of a nine-string guitar. He talks to Chris about making his living traveling with medicine shows, playing with a young Muddy Waters, and making records.
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Joe Falcon Interview – Cajun
In 1928 Joe Falcon went to New Orleans and recorded the first Cajun record. In this 1962 interview with Chris Strachwitz, he talks about making that first record and his early days playing music.
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Sonny Simmons, Barbara Donald, Juma Sultan Interview
“Yeah, they was very musical peoples, in fact, on this island, it was a tribal-like thing on the weekends. All the peoples would get together and they would go into this spot, their favorite spot and they would have festivities of music and voodoo. They’d deal in voodoo and witchcraft and all that. It was all surrounded with music.”
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Hackberry Ramblers Interview
“The way we would play, when we started playing over here at Silver Star, we would play maybe about three numbers. Then we would play a waltz. The waltzes we would play, French waltzes. It has a certain beat that the people around here like.”
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Bongo Joe Coleman Interview
In this brief interview Bongo Joe is not very talkative; however, he does reveal a few glimpses into his creative personality.
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Staple Singers Interview
“…he wanted us to sing blues. He said, Mavis can make a lot of money if we sang blues. I didn’t want to sing blues.” – Roebuck Staples
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J.E. Mainer Interview
Joseph Emmett Mainer talks about growing up, working in the cotton mills and playing with his brother Wade for the Crazy Water Crystal Company-sponsored radio shows, and recording for RCA Victor, King Records and Alan Lomax.
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