Pete Anderson at the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill Oct 17

About 4 years ago Pete Anderson heard the call for a new challenge. The Detroit-born blues guitarist and record label owner had accomplished just about every goal set in his varied musical career. For instance, he was a member of Dwight Yoakam's touring band during the frenzy of their 1990s popularity. The work served him well on many levels but he knew his future would dead-end as a touring musician. “I didn’t want to be in anybody’s band any more even if they were on my label,” Anderson said in a recent interview. “I didn’t want to work behind a singer again. I didn’t want to be in a situation where anybody could stop me.” Already the process of taking over his destiny had begun. The Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids welcomes the return of guitarist Pete Anderson on Oct 17. Anderson says that even if you have a signed contract you can’t force people to do things. “A singer could say ‘I don’t want to go. I’m sick. I want more money. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ There’s nothing you can do about it.” Pete Anderson says he puts a lot work into forming a band and creating a record. If he can get things going his way, he stands a better chance of cutting down on the inherent flakey human element. “I didn’t want anyone to even have the potential to say ‘I don’t want to play tonight.’” So he and his wife downsized their recording operations in Los Angeles and set up shop in his 4-car garage at home. By this time he had become a noted producer by working with Buck Owens, Roy Orbison, and the Meat Puppets. “I used to think I’d like to work with a bunch of different people but I look around now and I have worked with a bunch of different people,” Anderson said with a laugh. “I’ve had a pretty broad career working with William Norman Edwards, Rosie Flores, and k.d. Lang. I’ve got a long legacy of stuff I’ve produced and I’m proud of the majority of it.” But what he’s focused on now hits a little closer to home. “I told my wife I’m going to start my own band,” Anderson said. “I’ll work on my singing. I just want to play guitar. I’ve always been a producer who played guitar. Now I want to be a guitar player who makes his own records and tours. During time off I’ll produce other artist’s records. I’ve flipped the paradigm from producer-guitarist to guitarist-producer.” Amid all this productivity he found time to establish a demand for himself as a studio session guitarist (Michelle Shocked, Tanya Tucker, Flaco Jimenez). Of all the success achieved so far Anderson sounds most proud of running his own label. The story of Little Dog Records best illustrates his hands-on, from-the-ground-up approach to things in general. “In 1992 it was pre-internet, pre-No Depression magazine, and we had an 800 number telephone line in the office,” Anderson said. “I started it in the spawn of the infancy of independent record companies.” His method of going it alone but not solo seems to have paid off. “I always wanted to do my own thing,” Anderson said. “I love to play live. Left to my own devices as an artist where I am singing and writing, the blues is where I stand.”

Pete Anderson live at the Tip Top on Oct 17. Doors at 7:00 pm.

Ticket info:  http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=4813175&pl=tiptop

Listen to 3 full-length songs at Pete Anderson.com