Photo of the Day

Discover the History of Southern California Surf Music in New Book

Telling a story in pictures is Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966, the newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series. The book by local author John Blair is set to release on April 6th, 2015. The book boasts vintage images, many of which have never been published, and showcases memories of days gone by.

Dick Dale & the Del-Tones began holding weekend dances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California, in the summer of 1960. Over the next year and a half, Dale developed the sound and style that came to be known as “surf music.” The result was the development of more powerful guitar amplifiers, a dramatic increase in the sales of Fender guitars and amplifiers, and a shift from New York to West Coast recording studios.

More and more people were drawn to the sport of surfing, which became an important part of teen beach culture at the time. Even landlocked teenagers were captured by the moment, carrying surfboards atop their woodies in Phoenix or bleaching their hair blonde in St. Paul. For hundreds of thousands of kids, though, the attraction was not the connection to surfing; it was the connection to the music pioneered by Dick Dale.

Southern California Surf Music, 1960–1966 features seldom seen archival photographs that illustrate the early history of this unique musical style.

About the Author of Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966

John Blair has been collecting surf music recordings since 1961, beginning with Dick Dale’s Surfer’s Choice album. His first published writing was an interview with Dale in 1975. Over the years he has contributed articles to various record collector fanzines and mass market periodicals such as Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar magazines. In 1978, he wrote and self-published the first edition of The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music. A fourth edition of the book was published in 2008. In 1990, he co-authored The Illustrated Discography of Hot-Rod Music with Stephen McParland, a noted surf music historian and discographer from Australia.

Blair has also contributed liner notes, archival material, and discographical information to many retrospective surf music compact disks, beginning with a compilation of Dick Dale recordings in 1989. In 1996, he co-produced the best-selling, Cowabunga: The Surf Box, for Rhino Records. Not content with just writing about surf music, he formed the surf instrumental band Jon & The Nightriders in 1979. The band has been credited with sparking a resurgence of popular interest in this type of music after several recordings and multiple tours of Europe during the 80s and 90s.

ARCADIA PUBLISHING ∙ PUBLISHERS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL HISTORY BOOKS
420 Wando Park Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 ∙ Telephone: 843-853-2070 ∙ Facsimile: 843-853-0044 ∙ www.arcadiapublishing.com