Dale Geist was born in Germany, son of a serviceman, and floated around as the lifestyle lends itself to – before finally landing in upstate New York. But that didn’t stop him from traveling to the Midwest, the south and eventually making his way out west before finally settling in Northern California.
Obsessed with Top 40 as a preteen in the early ‘70s, then album rock later that decade followed by art rock in college, it’s the American roots music scene that drives him these days. He writes Americana in the classic style, with hints of soul, dashes of folk and a bit of country. You can catch him tonight, Oct. 16, as the Barking Dog Roasters in Boyes Hot Springs kicks off its music series at 5 p.m. We talked to him about his childhood trumpet, his passion for Bob Dylan and the one song that best sums up “life as we know it.”
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Many musicians in our generation cite the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as that moment when they knew music would be their life. When did you realize you wanted to be a musician?
Wasn’t the Beatles for me, probably Bob Dylan was the one. I think somehow Dylan was playing in the background for years. When I was 13, my sister got “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” and I realized that you didn’t have to look or sing pretty to write great songs.
That first instrument you owned. What was it and do you still have it?
No, I don’t have it any longer but it was a Besson trumpet. I got it second hand from my aunt and played it in the band at school. It was fine for an orchestra, but not for writing songs. I actually didn’t get my first guitar until I was about 18 and in college, even though I had been writing songs for about five years at that point. When I was in college my roommate and I had been thinking about getting guitars and we saw an ad for cheap guitars in the local paper. We took a bus out about as far as the Chicago suburbs would take us, and there was a lady selling Japanese copies of American guitars out of her garage. I think I paid $50 for mine.
Who are your influences?
Well, Dylan primarily. To me, he’s like Mt. Everest when it comes to songwriting. After that it’s cats like Steve Earle, Springsteen, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson.
What CD is in your car right... now?
Jason Isbell and his latest “Something More than Free.” I’d heard of him for years and this is the first disc of his I’ve picked up and I’m really digging it.
Who are you playing with these days?
Mainly me as a solo act playing my songs that I’ve written, but occasionally get together with a friend out of Napa, Lauren Holt, who plays kind of in the vein of John Prine and we’ve been doing some nice duets.
If you could have written one song, which one would it be?
Wow... tough, but it’s “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” by Bob Dylan. It kind of sums up life as we know it in four or so minutes.
James
Marshall
Berry
jmberry@sonoma?music.com
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