Born and raised in Northwest Alabama, Dustin got his first guitar when he was five years old.
When Dustin entered the fifth grade, he had joined the FFA String Band. Dustin graduated high school in 1999 and received a full scholarship to Northeast Mississippi Community College to play lead guitar for the school’s country music group Campus Country.  In 2001 Dustin help start Jimmy’s Nature, a cover band that played in Jackson, TN and many private parties around the southeast.  While Jimmy’s Nature was playing in Jackson, Jonathan Singleton was writing and working on a publishing deal in Nashville which made it hard for him to make it to all of the Barleys gigs with The Grove. William got in touch with Dustin to start filling in for Jonathan on guitar but soon Jonathan would be back at guitars and Dustin would take over as the auxiliary guy playing everything from banjo to mandolin.