While he farmed, Greg Anderson's favorite time of year would come around right now - in the fall, during harvest time.

It was when he could wrap his head around the thought of the winter snow and frost making the ground renewed again come springtime. He would pull an all-nighter if he had to, chisel plowing and then heading to work at the post office the next day.

Anderson comes from a line of hard-workers. He himself has spent most of his days working, and weekends playing in a band he's led for nearly 50 years. That hard-working nature and kind heart still has a hard time saying no to the beloved fans and friends who have followed and supported him, despite a few hardships.

Anderson was born in Freeport but about a month later, Anderson's parents purchased a dairy farm near South Wayne. He and his brother did their share of work there, but Anderson's first love was likely that farm and caring for the crops and animals.

Anderson's father always wanted to play the accordion. There wasn't money or means with 13 siblings, so it meant a lot to him to send Anderson to play, and before he started school, the youngster would trek to Monroe to Carol's Accordion Studio, just south of the Square. Carol Jenson, a student of Rudy Burkhalter, was his first and only accordion teacher.

"I was to be the extension of a dream unfulfilled - or in other words, I was going to play the accordion like (my father) never had a chance to," Anderson said.

He was easy to find as a youngster - his grandmother would say she could always hear him singing or humming a song. He said he was blessed with the musical training he received early on and was constantly surrounded with the building blocks that would become a musical career for nearly five decades.

Anderson remembers the trainer accordion, with fewer buttons and octaves for small hands, that he had at age 5. His mother would drive him in twice a week for the group lesson, where he recalls about 15 students attempting to play the same song.

"Sometimes it sounded like three cats in a barrel," Anderson laughed. "But I was up for anything when I was a kid."

He remembers spending weekends on Monroe's Square. His mother was an organist at Peace Church in Browntown and would help Anderson with his left hand on the accordion. His first real gig came at age 7, where he played in front of a Ladies Aide Twilight meeting - it paid $5. That amount was more than he'd typically make all summer in the early 1960s selling night crawlers as fishing bait at the end of the farm's driveway along County N.

It was a turning point for Anderson when he learned to play his father's favorite song, "In the Mood." A few years after eighth grade, he ended lessons after getting through all of the lesson books. He had begun to play by ear since there wasn't sheet music for the songs he wanted to play.

He attended South Wayne Elementary School and was there for the merger with Gratiot and South Wayne when it became Black Hawk. He was a balanced student, he said, who was on both the honor roll and the National Honor Society but still enjoyed sports - especially football his senior year, when he said the team had the best offense and defense in the league.

At that point, Anderson had played in the Floyd Krause Melody Band since he was 14, and as he and the equipment got bigger, he needed a larger vehicle. He was a typical farm kid whose parents wanted better for him, he said, and they encouraged him and didn't tie him down to milking when he would have late shows.

But helping on the farm never waned. It was a high priority for Anderson to keep the tractor radios working, though - he loved music.

"There was lots of air guitar played on that soil north of South Wayne," he laughed.

It wasn't long before Anderson's father bought him his first Cordovox, an accordion with an electric base so it sounded fuller. As a young man playing with an older band, some saw the instrument as uppity, and soon Anderson was asked to move on.

In 1971, he decided to start his own band, Greg and The Midwesterners, with drums, trumpet and guitar. The band got its break at The Norseman in Argyle and played there often, along with other establishments. He said his parents came to watch the band often, and his father was proud of his son's accomplishment. He said the help and friendship of Gary Pulver has also been one of the biggest contributors to the band since its inception.

Anderson graduated in 1974. On Oct. 19, 1974, Anderson was struck by a vehicle while driving tractor. He spent months in the hospital and eventually flew to Texas so doctors could try and save his leg that he used to brace himself as the tractor rolled - but on Dec. 22, they decided to amputate. He finally came home Christmas Eve.

He tried to retire from the band after the accident, but he had already committed to jobs that he felt obligated to finish, and fans encouraged him to keep playing.

"I looked at it more as a job then," he admitted. "I had to keep the spirit in me - and I had lots of help from my band and the followers. My Godsend was their support."

Anderson tried to keep farming, but couldn't continue milking without his leg. In 1976, he got a job with his brother-in-law as a salesman. He did it for less than three years, and enjoyed it, receiving top sales awards until a job at the post office came up.

In 1980, Anderson began a 33-year career with the United States Post Office delivering mail. He was still helping his father on the farm as well. Anderson was remarried to his second wife, Susan, while at the post office and said their families blended well.

After more than three decades of working at the post office, Anderson was struck with more poor health news and decided to retire.

"In my mind I had a few more years left, but my body just wasn't up for it," he said. "I was lucky to always have the band there if I wanted to pick it up."

After some low points in his life, Anderson said the band has been the constant where he's felt lucky to have great followers. The Greg Anderson Band is still playing with a full schedule, and Anderson is still at the helm.

"Finding a song that makes people feel like dancing - or maybe they haven't heard it for a long, long time," he said of why he enjoys playing so much.

About 10 years ago, The Greg Anderson Orchestra played at a reunion for the longtime band that's seen members come and go. Anderson said he remembers feeling inspired by Erwin "Irv" Wehrmann - his music teacher from first grade through his senior year and, aside from his parents, one of his biggest influences.

"It has constantly been in my life," he said of music. "And so much has happened related to and from it, that it would be difficult for me to imagine where life's path would have taken me without it."

Anderson has four children and seven grandchildren he enjoys. He has a fond memory of picking the kids up from school to take them to the dentist one day, but instead taking them to record "Hey Barbarita" with him.

He and his wife enjoy traveling when they can, movies and, of course, music.

Anderson said his outlook has changed after overcoming some hard times.

"I have come to realize everything isn't critical," he said. "Mistakes can be made, but we can learn from them."