El Cerrito Round-Up June 2016 Located on a quiet street in El Cerrito, the Down Home Music Store continues to endure after 40 years of selling what is known as Traditional Roots Music. This tucked away music shop is a sanctuary to the long lost treasures the 1970’s left behind. Records neatly strewn, the motif is outright ‘down-homey’, just like the roots music it necessitates. “It’s people’s music,” said J.C. Garrett, associate at Arhoolie Records. “Stuff that falls outside of the range of major labels. Roots music is music that has history.” Chris Strachwitz, owner of the Down Home Music Store fell in love with American Roots Music after his family immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1947. In 1960 he founded Arhoolie Records and started recording music out of his own living room. Strachwitz originally intended his building in El Cerrito to be a space out of which to operate his record label. It was not until 1960 that he decided to convert it into a full-fledged music store. “It made sense,” said Garrett. “And he wanted to make the music that he loved (not just his own) available to the people who loved country or jazz or blues at that time.” “The taste of the public in the Bay Area is so varied,” said Strachwitz who admits that business is tough these days. “Not like if you were in New Orleans. All you have to do to cater to customers is carry New Orleans music. No such thing as Bay- Area music per se.” Garrett also admitted that times have been tough for the Down Home Music Store as more consumers are listening to music digitally and said that the store is shifting focus toward accommodating record collectors. “We are really just trying to stay afloat,” Garrett said. “There has been increasing interest in vinyl. We are definitely working more in that department and spending more time on collectables and hard to find items.” Though collectors are becoming the store’s primary market, Strachwitz has been attempting to preserve and propagate roots music by digitizing it through a nonprofit he established in 1995 called the Arhoolie Foundation. “The idea was to get involved in a lot of projects that involve preserving and documenting and disseminating the label,” said Tom Diamont, the Arhoolie Foundation’s treasurer. “We have digitized 150,000 individual recordings of Mexican- American music going back from 1905 to the mid 70’s.” Diamont said that the foundation’s major project to date has been the Frontera Collection which is a digital archive including thousands of photographs and interviews regarding Local Store Brings Heart Back Into the Music Scene JC GARRETT, CHRIS STRACHWITz AND STORE MANAGER JOHN MCCORD. PHOTO IS By ADAM MACHADO. vernacular music and culture. Strachwitz and his team also offer live roots music to the Bay Area by hosting local artists in the store. “There is a small stage in the back,” said Garrett, “and artists come to promote an event or a product.” They most recently welcomed Bluessinger, Alabama Mike, to perform in honor of ‘Record Store Day’, a national event recognized by independently owned record stores across the country. They also offered 25% off all used merchandise. “A lot of what we have in the store is used,” said Garrett. “We want to encourage people to get out and go to record stores on that day.” “It is certainly not easy to stay afloat and the people who work here have to be paid,” said Strachwitz. “It (the music store) is something I’d like to keep going for as long as I can afford it.” Emotions ran high in the Down Home Record Store as Strachwitz and his associates struggled to find the words to describe what the store means to them. “Hobby is the wrong word,” said Garrett. “It’s bigger than baseball cards. There are people, myself included, where music is their life. Some people eat food. It (music) is part of my diet.” Strachwitz is not shy about his hatred of modern popular music and hopes that one day roots music will have more influence over the evolution of the music industry. “Most of it (roots music) is good in contrast to most pop music,” he said. “Not all of these regional musics have influenced pop music in any way. But a lot of them did.” The Down Home Music Store is located at 10341 San Pablo Ave. El Cerrito, CA. 94530 and they are opened Thursday- Sunday 11 a.m to 7 p.m. They can be reached at 510. 525. 2129. Visit them at DownHomeMusic.com By Jade ShoJaee
Contra Costa Marketplace - June 2016
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