I can still hear the quivering voice on the Live at the Hollywood Bowl album, "And now, here they are, The Beatles!!!"

Beatles, Beatles, Beatles. In the summer of '64 the world was full of The Beatles. I could not function without some sort of influence around me--music, pictures, Beatle boots...

The next endeavor would be to get a guitar!! I prayed for a guitar, one like George Harrison's Gretsch.

Up until this time I had been visiting my cousin, Terry Johnson, who lived just 2 or 3 hayfields away (or a mile using the county trunk). He had a classical guitar from the Sears catalog: The stuff that dreams are made of (please understand - I am a lover of old movies, look for cryptic movie references).

I used his Peter, Paul and Mary song book or neighbor Ken Zeilinski's Bob Dylan songbook. These books had the chords in them, and soon I was playing all three chords in the key of G and C, boy that F was hard!!

By this time I was a full-grown young adult of 14, dreaming of having my full rights, like a girlfriend--or even just one kiss!!!--and money, my own money!?! Life was hard - living on a farm with an elderly aunt and uncle, working in the hot sun all day picking potato bugs--oh, please help me! Then, as if a sign from above there were Beatles, glorious Beatles, to inspire me, to urge me on to a bright future with a guitar slung from my shoulder.

The compulsion to HAVE a guitar was so strong I would even risk the wrath of Uncle Emil.

Having relatives in the big city of Green Bay, I had the option of doing some traveling--to a place with guitar stores, department stores, and, oh my God, Sears.

It was on one of these trips in the swollen 80-degree heat of summer that I got a ride with a person outside the immediate family to the city. I had a bit of spending money and a few more bucks with instructions to buy a new shirt. The wheels were already turning!!

I can't even remember how I got to the downtown area, but there, downtown on Cherry Street... Cherry Street of Green Bay, metropolis of northeast Wisconsin, melting pot of the European descendents from a hundred miles around, were two shops. Records, amps, and guitars! Beatles, Beatles, Beatles!

Stiller's and Will's Musicland stood across from each other on Cherry Street, both with my dreams in the window. Will's had a sidewalk sale that Saturday, and had some electric and acoustic guitars outside in the sun. It was as if the warmth of the sun called me to these instruments!

Standing there in the midst of these was a Kay acoustic, I do not know the model number or name, but to me it looked like a Gibson SJ-200. It was not, however, and had a hefty, although affordable, price tag of twenty-five dollars. In my pocket was twenty-one and in my heart was fear, so afraid that I was unable to get this.

My courage welled up inside and I asked about the guitar--saying I wanted it. The salesman asked me how much I had--and the deal was done!

No shirt! No problem! I knew, living so far from Green Bay, that Emil would never make the 35-mile trip to make me return it.

There, in my room (cryptic Beach Boy reference), I played chord after chord, G after G, C after C, louder and louder until compliments and praises started pouring in: "Bang, bang, bang, anybody can do that!"

The roots of modern rock 'n' roll are deep roots, deep from The Delta region of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. Dale Anderson knows this music and takes you through the years of the rambling musicians of the Delta Blues. Music by Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Son House; and on to Muddy Waters as he left the Delta for The Windy City where he added bass, drums, piano and harmonica, creating Chicago Blues. This music is where Dale resides, honkin' loud and raucous, alongside drummer/partner Mark Riggenbach. Also a fan of surf-guitar and Link Wray, you never know what you might hear from this talented guitarist-drummer combo! Often you'll see other "Delta Jets" ~ guests sitting in on blues harp, sax or bass.

Starting with the folk music boom of the early 1960's Dale has developed his knowledge and playing over the years to become one of the area's finest purveyors of early blues. Listen to the slide guitar resonating, bringing you back to Bukka White, Tommy Johnson, and Willie Brown. Dale's resonator guitars will take you back to the golden age of The Blues -- the beginning of Rock 'n' Roll.

Music from Dale's almost forty years of playing includes the 60's Piper's Sons, recording 'Past Present Future' in 1967 and Christian-Rock group, Hosanna, 1972-76, with 1974's album, 'In the Morning'. He then went on to concert promotion with Bread / Harvest Productions, Green Bay, Madison, and Oshkosh, 1978-83, opening up for such talents as Terry Talbot and Phil Keaggy; lead guitarist for The Barb Bazaldua Band, 1992-93; and ten years of soloing, playing around the Midwest and beyond. With the addition of Mark on the drums in 2003, the character of this Delta Blues has gone through the roof! Come and tear the barrelhouse down!

Recordings of Dale Anderson, 1997's 'Victoria Smiles' (World music -- fingerstyle guitar) and 1999's 'Parkridge Avenue' (eclectic blues and world) are available at shows and on line. The new, 'Chair Factory Blues', a CD of all Delta Blues history and its connection to Wisconsin is slated for a 2005 release!