Texas-based instrumentalist Teisco Del Rey, born Dan Forte, channels surf music across the Lone Star State while playing an assortment of what he terms "el cheapo guitars." Guest spots from Charlie Musselwhite, David Grisman, Jimmy Vaughn, Steve Douglas, members of Laika & the Cosmonauts, and Mel Taylor of the Ventures filled his 1992 release, The Many Moods of Teisco Del Rey. Four years afterward, slide guitarist Sonny Landreth and synthesizer player Tim Ware added their parts to the follow-up, Plays Music for Lovers.
Originally from California's San Francisco Bay Area, Del Rey recorded with the Mallards, a San Jose outfit, prior to relocating to Austin, TX, during the late '80s. He maintained session work afterward alongside the studio collective known as the Lords of the New Surf.
As a rock journalist with scholarly leanings, Del Rey supplied the liner notes for Rhino Records' Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 5: Surf. He also conducted interviews with members of Spinal Tap during both 1984 and 1992.
