Roots music icon Chris Strachwitz is a detective of sounds, an archaeologist of deep American music, the antithesis of the corporate "mouse music" that dominates the American ear. Born a German count, Strachwitz fled his homeland after World War II at 16. In the U.S., he began to carry his tape recorder from sharecropper shacks to roadside honkytonks, from cantina dives to wild blues clubs. His recordings on his indie label, Arhoolie Records, brought Cajun music out of Louisiana, Tex-Mex out of Texas, blues out of the country, and into the living rooms of middle America. These recordings revolutionized the sound of American music. In this documentary, filmmakers Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling join Strachwitz for a hip-shaking stomp through the fertile ground of this country's roots music, as Strachwitz continues his passionate quest for the soul of America.