This summer, Dustin (left) and Bill Hunt were inducted into the Traditional Country Music Association Hall of Fame in LeMars, Iowa.

Even laid up in the hospital this fall, music was never far from Dustin Hunt’s mind.

The crooner of traditional country music had his laptop computer with him, and on it his favorite music — Buck Owens, Ray Price and Hank Lockin and Webb Pierce, to name a few.

Recovering from a pretty extensive surgery, the music helped take his mind off things.

The music the Lansing resident immersed himself in was old-school country, which began to part ways with today’s mainstream country in the 1970s, as amplification became more common. It’s the kind of classical country where the instruments stay more muted in the background, allowing the vocals and melody to ride on top.

This is definitely your father’s, or maybe more accurately your grandfather’s, country music, and in Hunt’s case it couldn’t have been more true.

His dad, Bill Hunt, who had performed it all his life, had first taught his son how to sing and play with a microphone rubber-banded to a broomstick in a back room of a cigarette store they used to own, a sand-filled coffee can working as the base.

The first song he taught him was a Johnny Rodriguez tune — “Pass Me By.”

“The mic wasn’t plugged in as dad wanted to teach me to project my voice and learn to work the mic as a tool,” Dustin Hunt said.

“Work the mic correctly and save your voice,” his dad would say.

The lessons sunk in, and it wasn’t long before the father-son team was playing across the whole of the Midwest, even shows in Canada and southern Texas. Along the way Dustin Hunt achieved some acclaim on his own when he won first place in a Hank Williams Sr. look-alike contest sponsored by Southwest Airlines and the television station TNN.

Though the physical likeness is striking, Hunt said he was still surprised when people started asking him to sing Hank Williams songs. Since then he’s added a number of Hank Williams songs to his repertoire and even performs a tribute show.

Hunt said he’s never tried to be anything other than himself, which is why he was always shocked when so many people believe he sounded just like the late singer.

“I would listen to a Hank song and then sing it so that I wouldn’t be an imitator but rather Dustin,” he said. “It just came out that way and still comes out that way.”

But the Hunts are known for more than just Hank.

They’ve received airplay over most of the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe, and their songs are available through a number of Internet sites (including Amazon and iTunes). On top of that, this summer the two were inducted into the Traditional Country Music Association Hall of Fame in LeMars, Iowa, and were recognized by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for their contributions to the genre.

Since then, however, they’ve kind of had a rough go of it.

In addition to the diabetes that Hunt, 38, has had for years, he also suffered a heart aneurysm two years ago. This fall he underwent an all-day surgery to repair complications from a first surgery, which laid him up for a few weeks in the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Both father and son have handled it with the same lighthearted humor that has netted them fans and friends from the countless shows they’ve played across the country’s midsection.

“If you’re going to be laid up then winter is the time to do it,” said Bill Hunt, 73, who postponed a surgery of his own a couple of weeks ago because his wife had recently fallen ill, and he figured there should be at least one moderately well person to care for everyone.

The two are hoping to bounce back by summer and perform as often as their health will allow. Always optimistic, they have four appearances lined up already.

Their next is at the Heart of America Old-Time and Bluegrass association’s monthly jam Jan. 16 in Kansas City, where they hope they’ll have enough stamina to make it through at least a 30-minute set.

It’s not what they used to do — the two tell stories of playing four-plus hours a day at festivals and playing 32 sets over an eight-day event without repeating the same song twice except for requests — but it’s a start. And they have no plans of missing this one.

Said Bill Hunt, “We’ll manage if we have to crawl.”

WHAT’S NEXT
Next appearance: Heart of America Old-Time and Bluegrass association’s monthly jam

When: 6 p.m. Jan. 16

Where: North Cross United Methodist Church, 1321 N.E. Vivion Road, Kansas City