A Brief History of Root Beer Tag
- March 2020 – Basic idea for Root Beer Tag is born when Bill starts looking a way to find people, events, etc… in his family’s image library without relying on Windows file searches. He also looks to share that ability with others across the extended family.
- Summer 2020 – Marcy builds an AngularJS-based tag edit engine and Bill starts tagging his 70,000+ images.
- Fall 2020- Bill builds a primitive all-PHP-based tag select/search page.
- April 2021 – Marcy builds a proper tag select/search engine and teaches Bill his first bits of AngularJS app development.
- 2022 – Bill starts introducing the family to what would become Root Beer Tag while continuing to add pictures and tweak automation. Full-sized image access is still controlled by user’s external IP address.
- May 2023 – During a family gathering, Bill is told by several cousins, “You need to make this ‘a thing.’ People would buy this.”
- 2023 – In addition to building the Windows and MacOS client software, Bill migrates the site from a PC in his basement to a cloud-based service, building AngularJS apps to webify tasks previously out of reach to the average user.
- August 2023 – Bill adds Google authentication (successfully field-tested later that month by his father-in-law) and the site gets the name Root Beer Tag (see below for the story of our name).
- December 2023 – Dottie designs our first logos.
- Early 2024 – Bill sharpens the presentation of the site on mobile devices and adds the ability to exclude words/phrases from image search result lists.
- May 2024 – Marcy converts our home site to WordPress.
- November 2024 – After a several-month break, Bill corrects and streamlines the unique ID embedding process.
- February 2025 – RBT Software LLC is formed, bringing EULAs and other legal stuff along with it.
- Late 2025 – New utilities added and formal test plans developed.
About Our Name
The name Root Beer Tag is a dual homage to the 1974 Billy Joel song Root Beer Rag and the memory of Dave Anderson (the father and grandfather of Root Beer Tag’s creators, Bill & Marcy).
OK, but why is the site named after a relatively obscure Billy Joel tune, and who’s Dave Anderson?
In late 1979 and early 1980, Dave Anderson (in addition to teaching vocal music at Turkey Valley High School in Jackson Junction, Iowa) was the piano man most Friday nights at The Armory Dining Room in Decorah, Iowa. Whenever his eight-year-old son Billy got the chance to see him there, Dave always played Root Beer Rag for him. To this day, his dad playing Root Beer Rag is one of Bill(y)’s fondest memories of him.
Several years after his stint at The Armory Dining Room, Dave joined forces with drummer Jim Mazziotti, and the duo played many a wedding reception and nightclub across NE Iowa, SW Wisconsin, and SE Minnesota as The New Revue from 1984 to 1988. When asked about Dave and Root Beer Rag, Jim reminisced, “[Root Beer Rag] was easily one of your father’s favorites. We played it each time we went to a break and always used it as a final number. I can see your father play the tune as I write this to you. He played it (and everything) so well. I miss the big guy. He was special.”
In 2024, Jim was going through some boxes in his garage and found a VHS tape of The New Revue playing its last two gigs in June of 1988. Linked below are a couple of snippets of Jim and Dave playing Root Beer Rag as they go to two of their breaks.
The New Revue jamming out Root Beer Rag
Going into break #1 (partial video)
Monona, Iowa – June 1988
The New Revue jamming out Root Beer Rag
Going into another break
Monona, Iowa – June 1988
And of course, here are a few videos of the master himself playing the tune.
Original studio version released
in 1974 on Streetlife Serenade
Live performance for the BBC series
The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977
Live 2013 performance at
New Orleans Jazz Fest
This page last updated on 3 November 2025 by Bill Anderson