Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

The family moved to Long Island when deLisle was seven, and within a couple years he gave his first public musical performance, singing folky songs (“Tom Dooley,” “The Battle of New Orleans”) in front of his class at school. His dad’s job required the family to make several more moves, but when deLisle was ten his family settled in the far southern suburb of Park Forest (near Chicago Heights and Matteson). Rock ‘n’ roll was taking over the country, and while attending Rich East High School, deLisle tuned in to WLS and DJs such as Dick Biondi, who pumped up the British Invasion when it hit. Later in the 60s, he got into psychedelic rock (he loved the likes of Cream and Jefferson Airplane) and the blues artists who’d influenced his favorite rock ‘n’ rollers, among them Bukka White and Muddy Waters.

I learned about deLisle through his connections to happening Urbana coffeehouse the Red Herring, where Pythea’s Tribe and We Free played several shows. Beginning in 1970, the Red Herring released a string of compilation LPs documenting the local scene, and deLisle’s electric bass turns up on both fall 1971 volumes of Folk and Music From the Red Herring. On the back cover of the second, he’s pictured drinking a beer, identified only as “Fuzzy.”

DeLisle’s solo career might’ve peaked in 1980. “I’ve always been a sports fan, and especially rooted hard for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team,” he says. “In 1980, mostly for fun, I recorded on my four track reel-to-reel a jingle-like tune praising that particular team. The next morning I dropped off a few cassettes I’d dubbed of the song at local radio stations, and driving from the first to the second I turned on the car radio and my song was playing! The next thing I knew, I was being interviewed by the newspaper and had been invited to sing the song live that night in front of 16,000 people at the U. of I. Assembly Hall.”

DeLisle left Illinois in 1982 for east Tennessee, where he still lives. “When I got here, I started out solo, as I was penning a tremendous volume of original material,” he says. “After that momentum slowed, I put together the Michael Brothers Band and enjoyed a successful run with them for several years.” He played bass and sang lead in that group, whose dual lead guitars attracted lots of Allman Brothers comparisons, and to this day he considers it the best lineup of his career.

The radio version of the Secret History of Chicago Music airs on Outside the Loop on WGN Radio 720 AM, Saturdays at 5 AM with host Mike Stephen. Past shows are archived here.