Born in Chandler, Oklahoma and raised down a 10 mile red dirt road.  DeWayne got his first taste of singing in public around the age of 7 years old, singing in church and school plays. DeWayne’s mother, while working around the house being a homemaker always had an AM radio tuned to a Country Western station. So Gospel and Country Western (as  was referred to in those days) music saturated DeWayne’s ears very early on. Around 7 years old, his grandmother gave him a Buddy Holly and Roger Miller album. DeWayne was hooked after wearing these two albums to a frazzle. He listened to them so much, his sister would hide his records so she wouldn’t have to hear Roger Miller’s “Dang Me” and “Chug-A-Lug” one more time!

At 10 years old his father Richard bought him a chord book and a Les Paul style guitar from Sears and Roebuck, so Dewayne could learn to play Gospel songs for the church. While learning church hymns on guitar the best he could, he was also learning chords and shapes from Buddy Holly, Roger Miller and Hank Williams. His family started to notice he could mimic Hank Williams pretty good, and would ask him to play and sing at family functions. Around this same period he discovered Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart, Bob Wills. Then Paycheck, Hank Jr., Waylon, Mel Tillis, Charlie Daniels and George Jones grabbed his ear. By the time George Strait came along his family had moved to Tulsa for his dad’s work.  

While in High school, Dewayne would enter talent contests at school, sing and jam at parties after football games and so on. He met a senior classmate named Johnny Dunn. Johnny told about how his older brother Ronnie ( of Brooks and Dunn later) would have “jam” sessions at various clubs in Tulsa on Sunday nights. The bug had hit, and he wanted to pursue playing Country music. At that time there were 11 clubs having “jams” in Tulsa on Sunday night. DeWayne would try to hit at least 4 to 5 of them. This became a rush to him. Dewayne graduated high school with an Associate’s Degree in aerospace structures  and went to work  for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft, while playing in local clubs at night. But by now the dream of moving to Nashville had taken hold. But he also wandered about the Southern California and Bakersfield scene, so he transferred with his company to Long Beach, California so he could try his hand at the West Coast country music scene. DeWayne quickly settled in, hooking up with the Southern Cal bands and talent. He would enter jam sessions and talent contest. Where he would network and show off his baritone smooth voice. During these times he jammed and hung with the likes of Jeffrey Steele,Cary and Larry Park  (Boy Howdy) , Bill Bryson and JayDeeManess (Desert Rose Band). Around this time DeWayne’s friend met a man in Oklahoma whom said he was in the music business and lived in Downey, California. His friend gave the man a cassette of some recordings DeWayne had done. That man was Don Sessions. Don called Dewayne when he got back to L.A. and ask him if where he would be playing. Don came out and met DeWayne at a show, Don told Dewaynehe had the voice, the look and what it takes, and his best friends were Merle Kilgore and Hank Williams JR. and would try to pursue getting Dewayne a development deal through his contacts. That same night a radio DJ approached DeWayne and Don and said he had connections at Capital Records there in L.A. Later on a meeting was set up, and DeWayne was fronted studio time to record some demos for Capital Records.Time went by and after the buzz settled and seemed stagnant,  DeWayne set his sights on Nashville. With his connections from L.A., he left L.A. and headed to Nashville. He settled into the nightlife playing around town. One of his L.A. contacts called and told him that he arranged a meeting with A&R rep, Al Cooley at Atlantic Records. DeWayne met Al Cooley, and he was given positive feedback and was told he was signable, but, at that time their roster needed female artists. Al asked him to check back in a year or so.

DeWayne networked and stayed in Nashville awhile when he was offered a job to build and be in a house band for a club owner in North Carolina. This would be steady income while honing his craft and was close enough to return to Nashville on occasion. DeWayne played in the house band at the popular Charlotte night club and also worked managing one of the sister clubs in Burlington, NC.

DeWayne remained in North Carolina for the next 6 years while still going back and forth to Nashville to network. On one trip to Nashville, he dropped a demo off at Allen Frizzell’s office, and distributed some demos around town. By the time he returned home to N.C, his phone rang with a call from Allen Frizzell wanting to produce an album on DeWayne! Then A&R rep Jeff Gordon at MCA called and wanted to set up an appointment. DeWayne had obligations at home and couldn’t leave right away. When he returned to Nashville for the meeting with MCA, was only interested in moving forward in another year or so due to roster size filling up. Not long after DeWayne moved to Nashville. When he arrived in Nashville, he found it to be booming so big, that there were 2 year long waiting lists just to get an apartment or place to live. Hotels wouldn’t rent long term because of tourism. So he slept in his truck for the next three months while working a day job as a welder fabricator and networking in the after hours. DeWayne met a couple one night while showcasing his songwriting and a couple, a man and wife team that owned a publishing company. They had heard the story that Dewayne was living in his truck. They offered him a place to live, in an apartment with one of their staff writers, in return for writing for them on a trial basis. DeWayne went to the office and co-wrote, ran errands, and delivered demos to labels for the next year. Then the bad news came. The wife of the owner had terminal cancer and was dying. They were dissolving and returning to Southeast Texas to be with family and lay her to rest. Dewayne had made a lot of friends and contact while in Nashville, but decided it was time to leave and head back West. He took a job with Boeing as an aircraft mechanic in Phoenix. Played the club circuit there for the next year or so, and his company wanted him to move to San Antonio to work. Once in San Antonio, DeWayne got to work getting settled into the South Texas music scene. That’s when he was chosen to be on Nashville Star, the reality show, that very first season garnered Miranda Lambert and Buddy Jewel. DeWayne went to the first taping in Houston. He received rave reviews from Robert Oerman and Charlie Robison whom were judges on Nashville Star, but  due to contractual disagreements with Sony, he did not finish the show.

6 years later, Dewayne went on to produce and record his own music on his own label. Released three singles to Texas radio, which garnered some awards and successful airplay.  

Dewayne has even played some of the same bars in Texas and Oklahoma that Toby played when he was starting out with his band Easy Money. 

For years people told DeWayne you look just like Toby Keith.You should do a tribute to him. This is something he would have never considered. Feeling that if you have been a musician all of your life, It’s hard to imagine being anything other than yourself on stage. After turning down many offers over the years to perform as Toby, DeWayne got a call from an old friend that would make him reconsider. Frank Garrett from the band Left Of Centre (LOC). The house band at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, was looking for a new Toby Keith tribute artist. They have been backing 14 different Tribute artist and playing sold out shows coast to coast for over 10 years. CAT already had two Toby tributes and needed one more for the high demand for him after his passing. LOC has backed up the REAL TOBY KEITH many times and talked to him about doing their tribute to him. After turning down several offers Frank remembered how much his old buddy DeWayne naturally looked and sounded like Toby without trying. No smoke and mirrors.

Toby Keith is a Legend in Country Music. He was loved by everyone and was always true to his music and himself. He was not a Democrat nor Republican. He was an Independent that loved his Country and performed for the soldiers here and overseas many times. He was very generous with his time and his money. Most people don’t realize the millions of dollars he donated because he didn’t talk about it. He just did it in true Toby fashion. We named our show American Soldier in Honor of his love for this country. RIP The Big Dog Daddy himself whose timeless music will live on forever!   

     DeWayne Terry now lives in Texas and enjoys working on fighter jets during the day, ranching in the evening and playing music at night.

American Soldier is THE #1 Top Toby Keith Tribute Experience Show in the U.S.! Texas recording artist DeWayne Terry is receiving more and more rave reviews as word gets out!!!! The bookings just keep coming in because this experience IS as close to Toby as you are gonna get! Great plans are in the works and big news is coming in the near future as we aspire to bring this show around the world!!!