Dave Sims didn't believe he could play the guitar again. After all, he was a quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair. He couldn't control his fingers. He had limited use of his arms.

That's the way it had been for 13 years, ever since that biking accident.

Mark Hedstrom believed otherwise.

"I want to hear you play," he told Sims last year during one of the reunions of their old band, "Archer," as an electric guitar was set before Sims.

"I can't," the Post Falls man responded.

Hedstrom stared him in the eyes.

"Music comes from your heart," Hedstrom said. "It doesn't come from your fingers. I'm not buying it. Play."

He put a glass slide on Sims left thumb, a pick in the thumb of his glove on the other.

"Play."

Because he knew that Sims had heart.

'You've got to trust me. We can do this," Hedstrom said.

So 50-year-old Dave Sims, for the first time in more than a decade, played.

He hit the notes. He hit the chords. He made music. Again.

It felt absolutely, positively, wonderful.

Sims looks back on that day with a big smile, his eyes bright.

"That was it. I was hooked," he said.

He credits Hedstrom with pushing him, with refusing to accept no.

"He was really an inspiration to me," he said.

"I'm humbled that I planted the idea," Hedstrom said. "He took it and ran with it."

When they played together, it seemed not much has changed.

A little older, a little grayer. But the same sounds.

Hedstrom, of Kalispell, Mont., considers them a "band of brothers." Then and now.

"It's like blinking. We just went forward 25 years," he said.

The reunited Archer will play at a private party later this month - the first time they've done so since 1983.

Their rehearsals in the studio at Sims' home, have gone well. Surprisingly well.

"It's just like we're kids again. It all came back" Sims said. "Our vocals are probably better now than they were 20 years ago."

There's Martin Smith on lead vocals. Doug Buell back on keyboard and guitar. Brian Elship on bass. Hedstrom behind the drums, vocals and guitar.

And of course, Sims on guitar.

The five once formed Archer, a popular band in the Seattle area. For years, in the late '70s and early '80s, they hit the nightclubs and bars throughout the Pacific Northwest. Classic rockers.

"They were crazy times," Sims said with a laugh. "It was a blast."

They traveled, drank beer, and played their music. Money? There wasn't much, but who noticed?

"I'm surprised we all survived it," Sims said.

"Every time we went out it was an adventure," Elship recalled.

Eventually, they moved on and went their own directions. Sims settled in North Idaho, worked in the electric business. He loved recreation and the outdoors. But when he was 38, while biking, he crashed, flipped over, and landed on his head.

It left him paralyzed, with limited use of his arms.

He did not stay down.

Today, he drives his van and takes his boat out from his dock on the Spokane River.

"I've got biceps," Sims said with a smile

It was 2008 when Sims began wondering about his old Archer buddies. Using the Internet, he found them.

"Let's have a reunion," he said.

In July of that year, they did. And again in 2009 and 2010.

Each time, they sang and played around the campfire. They tried to give Sims an acoustic guitar, but he couldn't hold it. He couldn't play. Not until last year when Hedstrom rejected his no.

"A sound came out and I was hooked," Sims said. "I thought, 'Maybe there's a chance.' At that point, I started playing."

And practicing. Hours, alone, in his studio or living room. He had a keyboard stand custom-made to hold his guitar. It's a bit of a struggle, because he can't push down, but he manages to guide the slide and pick across the strings.

He doesn't hit every note, but darn near.

"I'm not ever going to be Eddie Van Halen. My fingers don't move," he said. "I play overhand instead of underhand, like most slide players. I'm not really a slide guitar player but I'm learning."

Buell is thrilled Sims is back.

The Marysville, Wash., man said when they started playing again, it was like they never stopped. From the first chords and harmony, their music clicked.

"I was shocked," he said. "That totally caught me off guard."

Sims, he said, is an inspiration.

"He's a miracle," the 51-year-old Buell said.

"It's a great story. Nothing to do with us. It's all this guy," he said.

Elship, who lives in Renton, Wash., said at their early reunions, there wasn't much talk of their old band performing again. They wouldn't try without Sims.

"No one really had much hope he would be able to do anything like that again," he said.

All that changed once he had the guitar in his lap.

"He was pretty amazing. I was blown away by what he could do," Elship said.

Archer won't be done after the private concert. Sims wants to do a public performance in a park. Invite family, friends, anyone who wants to listen to music by five guys in their 50s banging out favorites by the Eagles, Journey, Pink Floyd and Johnny Cash.

"We love the old classics," he said.

Sure, Sims loves the music and being with pals from his youth, but there's more to it. He wants people with disabilities to realize they can do more than they think. Toss aside the limitations.

"If you want to do something, you can do it," he said. "You can do something you never thought you could do. There's so many great possibilities out there. I've been able to do all kind of things I didn't think I could do."

And Dave Sims hasn't stopped dreaming about doing great things, either. Not even close.

"Even though I just turned 50, I still want to be a rock star when I grow up," he said, laughing.