To credit an individual with the creation of a genre - beyond that, the creation of a sound - is typically a murky endeavor. Saying the Mekons created alt-country with the album Fear and Whiskey, for instance, is a statement that can be disputed and enthusiastically argued over by music nerds ad infinitum. Lately, subgenres have a way of springing up like weeds through cracks in the sidewalk, and it's very easy to say that this one band is responsible for the creation of chillwave or witch house or any other dubiously titled sound. But these things are all just various combinations of elements already established in music. These artists have not created something entirely new.

Dick Dale created the surf guitar sound. This is a statement that is irrefutable (a rare commodity in music). As it's been documented and retold, Dick Dale began by playing the drums and then transferred this percussive quality to the electric guitar - the result being the breakneck strumming and picking that has become irrevocably associated with surf guitar. As a style, surf guitar has endured and informed generations of guitarists, from heavy metal to garage rock and every rock-minded station in between.

"I was raised on big band music, and Hank Williams and country music," says Dale. "I never took a lesson. When I play, I play by ear."

With half a century worth of musical history on his resume - and battling cancer - Dale says when he performs these days he takes the time to meet everyone who attends, an example of the icon's humble perspective.

"I meet everyone who comes to see me. It's become like a family. With me dealing with cancer for the last five years, and diabetes on top of that, and my bladder being destroyed, and as I speak to you, I'm on renal failure. ... So, when I get off the stage, I meet everybody, and we talk about all their illnesses and their families and their children - and I've been with their children from the time of their birth to their dying, from these different ailments that they should not have, that they don't deserve to have. It's a personal thing. It's a very personal thing we have with our cancer clubs, with our diabetes clubs. ... I was given three months to live when I was twenty years old, and now here I am at 74, still kicking ass and dealing with cancer again."

Despite Dale's health issues, he's vibrant and lively to speak to. Telling me about a recent concert where he performed with a symphonic orchestra, Dale's voice brightens with excitement as he describes the strings playing the opening lines of "Miserlou." He still has a sense of wonder, after roughly 50 years in the music business, and a sort of awestruck delight in seeing his own music interpreted by others and appreciated by an ever-rejuvenating fan base. Dale is in the process of readying a new album recorded with his son, Jimmy Dale - a project he clearly approached with an immense amount of pride.

"Music, I think, is a great healer for people," says Dale. "I think that's why they've kept me alive, from upstairs, for so long."

It seems we're still not close to hearing the end of Dick Dale.

Dick Dale

with Girl Trouble, the Coloffs, Graceland 5
Thursday, Jan. 12, 9 p.m., $20 advance, $22
Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.759.6003