Dale Miller began playing during the “Folk Boom” of the early 1960s and within a few years discovered John Fahey, the principal figure in establishing the steel string guitar as a solo concert instrument. Dale was totally taken with the idea of the guitar as a self-contained orchestra.
Following Fahey’s lead, Dale listened to and mastered the styles of early blues players. Later, he studied music theory and found a gift for arranging all types of music for solo guitar — ragtime tunes, jazz standards, Beatles songs and even opera arias.
Dale had a distinct sound characterized by walking base lines using his right thumb, index and middle fingers, concise and elegant fingering, and a sweet, clear tone. His arrangements were lauded for fidelity to melody within chord voicings and the walking bass lines.
Dale was the record label Kicking Mule’s America based, best selling guitarist in the 1970s and later, with the advent of the Internet, he reconnected with old fans and was discovered by new fans worldwide. Throughout his career, many professional and amateur guitarists have been influenced by and learned from Dale’s style and arrangements.