Roots music icon Chris Strachwitz was a detective of deep American music - music that’s the antithesis of the corporate “mouse music” dominating pop culture. Born a German count, Strachwitz came to the US as a teenager in 1947. There he saw a film that would change his life forever: New Orleans, starring Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.

Since then, his life became a relentless quest to track down and record the best of American roots music—New Orleans jazz, down home blues, Cajun, Zydeco, and Norteño. Strachwitz was the legendary founder of Arhoolie Records, the label that brought rural American music out of the shadows and into the limelight.

He also brought rural musicians to Europe, introducing wildly enthusiastic audiences to the rhythms of bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins, Zydeco king Clifton Chenier and others. In the process, he changed music in the US – and the world - forever. From Texas…