"rich toned harmonica style and a funky gumbo of feels... a must see show!"

Dale Spalding began playing harmonica and guitar as a young teen in Downey, California. When a friend played a Paul Butterfield record for him it changed his life. As Dale says, “I couldn’t believe that those sounds were coming from a harmonica.“ So began a lifelong obsession with the instrument. Dale and his brother Larry collected all the blues recordings they could find, Chicago and country blues, New Orleans R&B, Big Band swing as well as the English invasion bands were mainstays and recordings of Muddy Waters, BB King, Charlie Musselwhite, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, Jr Wells, John Lee Hooker as well as contemporary local bands like Canned Heat, Taj Mahal and George ‘Harmonica’ Smith were a steady musical diet. In the LA area many of the legendary bluesmen passed through to play live at places like The Ashgrove and The Golden Bear - Dale and Larry were there to take it all in. In 1969 Dale moved to San Francisco where he studied harmonica under the guidance of the great Sonny Terry, who brought his young student around and introduced him to Brownie McGee, Willie Dixon, Johnny Shines, Lafeyette Leake, Big Walter ’Shakey’ Horton, and many other real bluesmen. After years of traveling and playing, Spalding developed a unique singing style which was encouraged by Duke Burrell, a New Orleans musician who was Louis Jordan’s pianist. For 10 years Duke and Dale worked as a jazz and blues team. Dale comments: “Duke made me learn all these jazz ballads and standards on vocal and harp because he said that’s what the people want to hear." It was through this association that Dale’s real expansion occurred. After Duke’s passing in the early 90’s, Dale and his long time friend and bass player Tom Gargano formed a band that played “everything from Howlin’ Wolf to Frank Sinatra, from Miles to Muddy.” For years the Dale Spalding Band worked in California and featured some of LA’s finest musicians including the legendary drummer James Gadson, Texas saxophone ace Lon Price and the soulful Bruce Malament “Funky Mal”on piano. In 2000, Grammy-winning Latin Conguero and bandleader Poncho Sanchez heard Dale and his band - they immediately became fast friends and musical brothers. Sanchez brought Dale along as a featured guest with his band on several tours of the US and Japan. Poncho featured Dale and his band together on his “Latin Spirits” CD, and in 2003, Sanchez featured Spalding’s harmonica on a recording of “MaryAnn” with Ray Charles on vocal. In 2005, Spalding moved to New Orleans and played with the local roots band the Iguanas and many of the great local musicians when Hurricane Katrina forced a relocation, this time to Austin, Texas. Dale now regularly works with the musicians who define the modern Texas blues scene. He tours and records regularly and has appeared with Dave Alvin, James Cotton, Marcia Ball, Ruthie Foster, Papa Mali, Otis Rush, Pinetop Perkins and Redd Volkaert. He is presently a member of Austin’s premier blues band “Little Elmore Reed”. In 2007, Spalding met the great blues drummer, Fito de la Parra. After playing several gigs together, Fito invited him to join his legendary blues rock band "Canned Heat" as their front man on the road in the US and Europe. Keeping a busy schedule, Dale still appears with Poncho Sanchez, in a duo format with Rod Hodges of the Iguanas and as a solo performer.