For nearly four decades, Dick Dale has been the guitar's best friend -- and its worst enemy. The musical pioneer has been responsible for more innovations on - and more damage to- the six-string than any other player of the rock'n'roll era. And while he's credited with fathering genres as diverse as surf rock and metal, Dale's constantly evolving, brutally physical music has proven unique enough to defy easy categorization.

On UNKNOWN TERRITORY, his second album for HighTone, Dale lays down the law with characteristic ferocity. Over the course of it's 13 songs, Dale's buzzsaw strumming„he's been known to snap 60-guage strings like dry spaghetti -- shifts shapes with amazing alacrity.

From the intricate textures of "Fish Taco" to the swiinging "F Groove" to the manic attack of "Scalped", Dale's original compositions live up to his desire to "write each song as if it were the last thing I ,was going to do on this earth." Likewise he invests chestnuts like "Ghost Riders In The Sky" and a thoroughly singular "Hava Nagila" with the power and urgency,v that prompted the New York Times to dub him "a visionary."

Produced by Scott Matthews (John Hiatt), UNKNOWN TERRITORY features the core band ~ Matthews and Prairie Prince (XTC, Tom Waits, The Tubes) on dual drums, and Dick's long time bass player Ron Eglit„ from Tribal Thunder, Dale's triumphant 1993 return to recording that catapulted the 57year old guitarist into the ranks of college radio favorites.

With that record, Dale landed in the Top 20 of CMJ's charts (the oldest artist to ever do so); and in the process won both critical accolades and the worshipful admiration of Beavis & Butthead for a video for "Nitro" that saw action on .MTV's 120 Minutes as well.

As a youngster, Dale's first hero was Hank Williams (a love of country music that continues to this day, as showcased on UNKNOWN TERRITORY's stunning cover of the Johnny Cash classic "Ring Of Fire"). But he also credits an unlikely source for inspiring his pulsing, driving guitar sound„jazz drummer Gene Krupa. "He mesmerized me," recalls Dale "He learned his rhythms from indigenous sources, not from other so-called schooled musicians, and that's an approach I've always appreciated, and have tried to incorporate in my own music." Taking that music on the road to his newly acquired legion of fans has been, incredibly enough, a new experience for Dale. Before Tribal Thunder, he had never toured outside of Southern California. The foray was a resounding success as Dale sold out venue after venue on his recent cross-country trek. "I get indie rockers, skinheads, motorcycle people, parents with their seven year olds - sure, they sit on different sides of the room, but they're all screaming at Dick Dale tearing apart his guitar," Dale says with a broad laugh. 'To tell the truth, I never wanted to tour, because I never wanted to leave my family, my animals. Now I can't stop. I stand on stage for two hours until I'm ready to drop. I'm not going to retire to a rocking chair. When I do go, it'll be up there on stage..in an explosion of body parts.'