Dale Leroy Perry Music

I was born and raised in a Midwest steel town. After a couple of weeks “working in the mill”, I met a harp player named Malcolm Gibson and that was that. Right after I started college I met these old "beats" who filled my head with life "on the road". Off I went with my axe and 20 bucks, bound for everywhere.

In Chicago, Brownie McGhee told me, "you got a right to sing the blues 'cause you ain't never goin’ home". That was in 1969. Man was he right. Claiming neither place nor stone, I have traveled and worked and played all across the U.S. of A. Back then a few of us decided that the country blues tradition should be preserved. I was enthralled with the cats being "rediscovered", like John Hurt and Lightning, and the renaissance of old country blues.

While the "original" songs started coming and the guitar developed, I lived in the mountains and on the prairie and all along the gulf coast, always absorbing the music of the heartland. I lived and performed in Chicago and Denver and Breckenridge and Detroit and Cincinnati and Dayton and Dallas and Houston and NYC. The only roots I had were in the blues. With time my style developed. I was taking those traditional country blues roots and writing my own tunes. I call it contemporary country blues. You got to sing about what you know, or it ain’t the blues.

I first came to Austin in the back of a Winnebago with Kenneth Threadgill in the passenger seat. After opening for him at the Rubiat in Dallas he gave me a lift for my gig at Saxon Pub, the original one, opening for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee in Austin.

In the back room Sonny and I were pickin’ around when Brownie walked in. Sonny said “ listen to this boy, that’s the way I want you to play this song”. I could have crawled under the table. Those guys were always taking jabs at each other. Brownie was gracious though and had me come up to play the tune on stage with Sonny. My most special memory.

Later, after becoming a seismic observer for 12 years (the earth was my guitar and dynamite my pick), I came back to Austin on breaks and played at Chicago House. I met a lot of good folks like Jimmie Lafave, and Guy Forsythe. Jimmie called me "a legend in his spare time." Funny. He told me I should move here.

When the oilfield crashed, I landed in Austin to drive a cab and play music (just like Harry Chapin). I played the Saxon Pub (the current one) regularly, the Mance Lipscomb tribute at Antones’, every week at the Dam Café with Rex Whitton, and other local clubs. I played with Frumholz, Rusty Weir, Tim Henderson (he told me I should quit my day job), and Leann Atherton. Larry Nye produced my first album, “Good & Ready’.

Four years and an album later it was off to Nashville, again to drive cab and pitch songs. I made all the songwriters nights, met a lot of songwriters, and learned about the “craft“ of songwriting. After a couple of years and modicum of success, I succumbed to the perils of the street and became very ill.

Upon release from hospital, I went back to the oilfield for a couple of years, but then it crashed again as it is want to do. So I came back to Austin and got a job (not in a cab). Soon, I started playing Ego's once a week for a year and a half, with Larry Eisenberg on stand up bass and Jimi Lee on harp. During that time we opened mostly for Bobby Doyle.

Time gets away as you age seems like, just trying to survive. I had to slow down some and just do my day job. It happens like that as we get older. I played open mics once in a while, rode out to Luckenbach and picked sometimes. I finally recorded “Moan My Name”, a second album. I did 2 benefits for the Stroke Foundation in San Antonio. The second one with Vince Bell and Steve Fromholz. Talk about inspirational people. Steve and I first met forty years ago. It felt like a full circle.

Now I am free at last to devote full time to writing, recording and performing. Always said I’d do it. Now is the time. In June, 2009, “ Live @ Hyde Park Bar and Grill” was recorded, with Jimi Lee. More gigs are coming. 2010 found me playing around the north west and around Texas and around Austin. 2011 was pretty much the same. New songs still coming. Now have material for a new album in progess. That’s my story, so far.