Win Stracke

Folksinger Win Stracke is remembered less for his performing career than for his efforts in co-founding Chicago's renowned Old Town School of Folk Music. Stracke was born and raised in Chicago, but after graduating from high school in 1926, he relocated to Thermopolis, WY, working as a roustabout and coalminer; from a fellow itinerant worker named Flat Wheel Harry, he learned traditional songs like "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," and began performing in front of local labor groups. Upon returning to Chicago in 1931, Stracke hired on with radio station WLS as a bass singer, perf...