Gatesville Country Music Hall of Fame

July 21, 2017, Mike and Dixie Dunton call Hico, Texas their home. They are a couple of traveling minstrels, who have performed in places from Florida to California. Mike began his life of music in St. Augustine, Florida. He grew up in a musical family where many evenings were devoted to friends and family playing music on the front porch. His mother (in order to keep an active little redhead busy) would put him in a big chair with his father's dobro and instruct the four-year old to "play her a song". He still plays that same dobro today. Mike found his real love when a relative gave the family an old upright piano. His parents recognized what a talent he had for the piano and obtained classical training for him. That training would stand him in good stead and provide a substantial foundation for his music. Fate; however, had something else in mind. Early on, he discovered rock and roll. Goodbye Beethoven! He was off to form his own band, playing across the Southeast. Rock-a-billy was for him! Mike always felt he belonged in Texas, and in 1975, he brought his music to Texas and never left. Dixie started her performing at the ripe old age of two in Ft. Worth, Texas where she sang for anyone who would listen. Will Rogers Coliseum, North Ft. Worth Coliseum, New Isis Theatre or singing on a downtown corner (when she could escape while her mother who was looking at pattern books at Leonard Brothers). One night her mother took her to the North Ft. Worth Coliseum to see the Kitty Well's Show. As she peered between the balcony railings (awe struck), she knew this was for her. Later she performed with the USO in Europe and many other venues in Texas and California. She fell in love with a piano player, and the rest is history. Mike and Dixie play VINTAGE music: Country, Gospel, and Old Time Rock and Roll. Mike and Dixie along with our Hall of Fame house band, the "Country Sounds" should make this a fun night full of sounds from the past which we hope will please you.