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Short Bio

Originally from a small town in Northern Illinois, Dustin has called Nashville his home since 2016. Listeners can find a blended style that is a cross between country and rock in each of his songs. With experience playing many of the honky tonks in Music City, Dustin has also toured nationally. Since taking the stage for the first time in 2010, he has played everything from clubs and county fairs to major music festivals such as Country Thunder. Dustin's debut EP, "Prayer Of A Simple Man," was released in November of 2017. The album reached as high as #14 on the iTunes country chart and debuted in the top 100 on the iTunes country chart on release day. In 2019 alone, Dustin played more than 100 shows from coast to coast. Dustin also released three brand new songs starting with "Memories We Didn't Make," early on in the year. He followed that with two upbeat tracks titled "Pretty Little Lips" and "Too Busy Fallin' In Love" over the summer. Dustin released his fourth single of 2019, titled "What Makes Me Want You," and headed out on the road for a nationwide tour covering over nineteen states and thirty-five cities over the winter. Sadly the tour was cut short by Covid-19 but that hasn't kept him down. He’s been using the downtime to write, record and produce lots of content to make 2020 the best year yet! Starting with “Make You Fall,” in May and followed by the upcoming release of, “Keep It Real,” on October 23rd, 2020 has been far from a wash! Keep It Real, y’all!

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Full Bio

Growing up in the far western suburbs of Chicago, you might think Olson was raised on ‘hot country radio’ but that’s not the case. Instead it was his dad that helped shape his musical palate as father and son first farmed together and then worked side by side building custom motorcycles, motors and restoring classic cars, all to dad’s soundtrack of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Dr. Hook. 
 
Dustin attended college ultimately earning a Master's degree and landing a job in corporate banking. In the end, his career took him far from the finance world as he became the owner of his own business building muscle cars for six years, but even the need for speed didn’t give him what he truly wanted.
 
“I always wanted to play music,” says Olson. “Even when I was working in racing and had my shop, I would always go see live music and wish I could do that.”
 
It wasn’t until 2009 that Dustin mentioned to his brother Jared how he wished he could play.  Remembering that conversation Jared, a guitar player himself, gifted Dustin a jet black Stratocaster.  Dustin dove in but like most guitar students, got frustrated and within a few months he put the guitar down, opting instead to run sound for a local country band.  That led to Dustin hosting open mic nights at a local bar which reignited his desire to play, so much so he walked into a local guitar shop and walked out with his new best friend, an acoustic Taylor guitar. 
 
From that point his sole focus was learning to play, eventually learning enough chords to play George Strait’s “Troubadour.”  Excited he showed his brother who immediately insisted on dragging Dustin onstage to perform it with him that night.  That night turned into another night, and another, until Dustin formally joined his brother and Melissa Olson to become a full-fledged acoustic trio performing gigs all over the area as The Olson Band. 
 
It wasn’t long before Olson formed his own band, the Blue Collar Rebellion.  Playing many of the same bars, Olson performed primarily covers but introduced his newfound fans to the likes of ‘red dirt’ country.  Artists like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Pat Green, Bart Crow, Randy Rogers, Charlie Robison filled his set lists and began to lay the groundwork for the songwriter Dustin was becoming.
 
While he became more and more comfortable onstage, it was the loss of his mother in October of 2013 that solidified his belief in himself.  On the day of her memorial service he and his brother strapped on their guitars and performed their mom’s favorite song, Eric Church’s “Like Jesus Does” and likewise played it again at their show that night.  Understandably the second time around was too much but Dustin got through the tears, the song and the show because he knew that’s what his mom would want him to do. 
 
By 2015 Dustin was taking regular trips to Nashville.  The visits got more frequent and Nashville got harder and harder to leave to the point he eventually gave in to his heart, selling his business and in early 2016 making the move to Music City. 
 
“It was exactly where I wanted to be and scary as hell all at the same time.  I don’t think I played out live for the first nine months I lived in Nashville because everyone is so good.”
 
The days of self-doubt are now a thing of the past as Olson has forged a number of friendships and writing partnerships with some of Nashville’s songwriting elite, some even considering him in that circle as well.  Now with a fully loaded band behind him the time has come to pack up his guitar, load up his growing list of songs and take it all out where it needs to be to breathe – out on the road.

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The Music

After countless hours of songwriting and the production brilliance of Marc "Butter" Fortney (Trailer Choir) Dustin's debut EP, "Prayer Of A Simple Man," was released in November of 2017. The album reached as high as #14 on the iTunes country Pre-Order chart and debuted in the top 100 on the iTunes country chart on release day. Since its release the songs of "Prayer of a Simple Man" have gathered nearly 25,000 streams and racked up over 20,000 music video views in 2018 alone. 

 

2019 was a big year with a whole bunch of new music and new tour dates all over the country. Dustin released four singles. "Memories We Didn't Make," "Pretty Little Lips, "What Makes Me Want You," and "What Makes Me Want You." He followed that up in 2020 with "Keep It Real" and "Make You Fall." Then came covid and the big slow down but new music has still come with "Meet My Momma," a song about reflecting on losing his mother, "You Know What I Mean," and a remastered version of "Her Daddy Raised Her Right." In 2022 Dustin found the love of his life and they were married. The song, "How'd I Get So Lucky" was written for the first dance at the wedding. Going forward Dustin has plans to continue releasing plenty of new music, with four new singles on the way for 2024. So stay tuned! 

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2024 Life Update

Here is where you’re supposed to list a whole bunch of cool stuff and accomplishments in the third person. I've done a bunch and it was awesome. I got lots of fun campfire stories out of it. No third person for me anymore, though. Just a guy and some songs and hopefully some folks that care to listen. At first it felt like this dream ended with the covid shut down and tours cancelled, and you know what, it kind of did. Instead it was replaced with finding an amazing girl, a dream home with a dream recording studio, dreams of a family on the way, and dreams of new business adventures. Just replacing one cool dream for some even better ones, and I am cool with that. That said, I still can't let go of this one. It will always be here. Myself, the guitar in the corner of the room, and the notepad full of ideas calling in the middle of the night...all restlessly needing each other symbiotically. If you’re actually reading this, it maybe means you listened to a song or two. If so, thanks. I’ll keep ‘em coming if y’all are stickin’ around for a while. Lots of new little dreams, coming soon!

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