Arhoolie Occasional
- Place of Publication: Berkeley, CA
- Language: English
- Date of Publication: 1971
- Periodicity: Occasional
- Publishers: Arhoolie Records
- Lacunae: No. 2
- Type: Full Text
- Continued by: The Lightning Express
The Arhoolie Occasional was a short-lived, tabloid-sized newspaper produced by Arhoolie Records in Berkeley, California. Edited by Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records, the purpose of The Arhoolie Occasional was to provide background information on the artists recorded by Strachwitz and to reprint record reviews published elsewhere. As explained by Strachwitz in the first issue, “Arhoolie” was a holler used by a field laborer in Edwards, Mississippi and recorded in 1939. Strachwitz, born into a German aristocratic family before becoming a musical folklorist and record producer known as “El Fanático,” focused on American folk music, which for him encompassed blues, jazz, music of the Mexican borderlands, Cajun and Delta musics, hillbilly and Appalachia, gospel, and European immigrant musics such as polka. Most of the Occasional consists of significant reviews of specific records, each of which provides ample context and description. An article on Arhoolie’s costs to produce and distribute a recording provides an interesting economic perspective on independent record labels.