Dave Plaehn was born and raised in Iowa. Both his parents sang, his father sounding like Mario Lanza. One of his mother's favorite artists was Sarah Vaughn. He played in a band in high school covering the Stones, Jimmy Hendrix, Dylan, Donovan and Cream.

Late high school and early college he began getting into the blues listening to Koerner, Ray and Glover and Leadbelly. In college he played in a jug band, covering the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and others. Though mostly known for his singing, his harmonica playing improved considerably. By the end of college he had discovered many of his major influences: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Sonny Terry, Johnny Winter, Bukka White, Bonnie Raitt, Tracy Nelson, Buffy St. Marie and Paul Butterfield.

After college, he moved to Madison, WI, eventually joining with Tony Brown, Ted Wingfield and Jim Cowan to form The Tony Brown Band. They became popular playing a mix of acoustic reggae, cajun, blues. After the dissolution of The Tony Brown Band, Dave went on to help form The Roots Band, which also enjoyed local popularity playing mostly reggae with some blues and mariachi funk.

Dave left Madison in the late 70's and began focusing more on songwriting and song-plugging. He eventually had 4 songs signed, though none resulted in a commercial release. He released his first album, SMOKIN, in 1981 featuring all originals. This was followed soon after by the blues-folk-jazz EP, MOUTH FULL OF BLUES.

Dave moved to Oregon in the mid-80's, eventually joining Neal Gladstone & Company. He started performing with slide guitarist, Jeff Hino, as a duo in 1990. They went on to release the mostly acoustic blues CD, ON YOUR BOND, in 1996. In 2002 they released CAN'T GET MY REST, mostly a mix of acoustic and electric blues. Dave and Jeff continue to perform in the Plaehn-Hino Blues Band.

In the 1997 Dave was endorsed as a harmonica player by Hohner, Inc. That same year he "sat in" with the OSU-Corvallis Symphony.