Mississippi Smile

Dylan "Mississippi Smile" DuPont is a young Texas Americana and Folk singer and songwriter making a name for himself through heartfelt songwriting, a distinctive voice, and a natural gift for storytelling. Rooted in the traditions of Texas music while bringing the perspective of a new generation, Dylan has spent much of his young life learning what makes a song connect with the people listening.

His story began simply enough.

At eight years old, Dylan picked up his father's guitar and learned the only three chords his dad knew. After about a year of formal lessons, he largely took things into his own hands, learning through YouTube tutorials, training his ear, and spending countless hours with a guitar in his hands. By eleven, he had discovered a love for singing as well, but it would be a couple of years before he began discovering what he truly wanted his own music to sound like.

That began to change when Dylan was thirteen.

He found his way to an open mic at The Empty Glass in Tomball, hosted at the time by Texas country musician Josh Fuller. There, Dylan found himself surrounded by a group of regular musicians and songwriters who welcomed a thirteen year old kid with a guitar into their musical community.

Those nights became an important part of his education.

Dylan listened. He played. He learned. Most importantly, he began discovering the kind of music that truly spoke to him.

Through that group of musicians, Dylan was introduced to artists such as Guy Clark and Turnpike Troubadours. He became drawn to songs where the story mattered as much as the melody, where the words felt lived in, and where honesty carried more weight than polish.

It was a sound that felt natural to him.

Those evenings at The Empty Glass helped shape Dylan's ear and gave him an early appreciation for the Texas songwriting tradition that would eventually become the foundation of his own music.

It was also during those days that Mississippi Smile was born.

When Dylan was thirteen, a local Tomball musician known as Chief gave him the nickname. Inspired by Dylan's unmistakable smile and his connection to Mississippi, where he spent a decade regularly traveling for orthodontic appointments, Chief started calling him "Mississippi Smile."

The name stuck.

What started as a nickname given to a thirteen year old kid at a local open mic eventually became the name Dylan would carry with him onto stages throughout Texas.

As Dylan grew older and began performing more regularly, those early lessons started turning into experience. Early in his musical journey, he had the opportunity to open for Grammy Award winning country music legend Crystal Gayle, giving the young performer an early glimpse of where a life in music could take him.

But as Dylan continued developing as a performer, it became increasingly clear that songwriting was at the heart of what he wanted to do.

His influences grew to include Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Gregory Alan Isakov, and others, but the foundation remained much the same as what had captured his attention at thirteen: honest songs, meaningful lyrics, memorable characters, and stories worth telling.

Dylan's early appreciation for Guy Clark would eventually lead to something particularly meaningful in his development as a songwriter.

He began taking songwriting classes from Hall of Fame songwriter Verlon Thompson, a longtime friend and musical collaborator of Guy Clark. Learning from Verlon gave Dylan the opportunity to study the craft of songwriting with someone who had spent decades writing, performing, and sharing songs alongside one of the writers who had first inspired Dylan as a kid.

Over time, that connection came full circle.

Dylan had the opportunity to share the stage with Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp, playing the songs of Guy Clark together.

For the young songwriter who had first discovered Guy Clark's music while sitting among the regulars at The Empty Glass, the experience meant more than simply sharing a stage with accomplished musicians. It connected the music that helped shape Dylan as a thirteen year old with the songwriter he was becoming.

Those experiences have helped Dylan develop a style rooted in Texas music, folk, country, and Americana while still sounding unmistakably like himself.

His songs explore relationships, hope, loss, growing up, and the ordinary moments in life that often carry more meaning than we realize. Whether performing a quiet song that makes a room stop and listen or something that has the entire crowd singing along, storytelling remains at the center of what Dylan does.

In 2025, years of writing and learning began receiving recognition.

The Houston Songwriters Association named Dylan Runner Up for both Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year, recognizing not only an individual song, but his continued growth and ability as a songwriter.

His work also began gaining national recognition through the Nashville Songwriters Association International, where two of Dylan's original songs received the coveted "One to Watch" designation, recognition given to songs demonstrating exceptional craftsmanship and commercial potential.

Another of Dylan's original songs earned placement on the Bob Kingsley Top 40, adding another milestone to the growing career of the young Texas songwriter.

But awards and recognition only tell part of Dylan's story.

Perhaps the better measure of who he is as an artist is what happens when he walks onto a stage with a guitar and a song to share.

As the League City Folk Association described him:

"This young man is a joy to watch as he shares his love of story and song."

The opportunities to share those stories continue to grow.

In October 2026, Dylan will open for Grammy nominated folk duo Trout Fishing in America at the 04 Center in Austin, Texas. It is another significant milestone for a young artist whose musical education began with three chords from his dad and nights surrounded by musicians at a Tomball open mic.

The following month, Dylan will perform at the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe Songwriter Festival, joining a gathering centered around the very thing that first drew him to this kind of music: the songwriter and the song.

In announcing Dylan as part of the festival, Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe described him this way:

"Dylan Dupont is a young Texas singer songwriter making a name for himself with heartfelt songwriting, a distinctive voice, and a sound rooted in the rich traditions of Texas music. With a fresh perspective and a natural gift for storytelling, Dylan brings an honest, youthful energy to every performance, marking him as an artist to watch in the next generation of Texas songwriters."

For Dylan, those words carry particular meaning.

The thirteen year old who once sat among the regulars at The Empty Glass discovering Guy Clark and Turnpike Troubadours has grown into a songwriter who has studied the craft with Verlon Thompson, shared the stage with Verlon and Shawn Camp playing Guy Clark songs, earned recognition for his own original music, and is now beginning to find his own place within the Texas songwriting community that first inspired him.

Dylan is not trying to recreate the music of the writers who came before him. He is learning from the tradition they created and carrying its most important qualities forward in his own way.

An honest lyric.

A memorable story.

A guitar.

And a genuine connection with the people listening.

Today, Dylan continues performing throughout Texas while writing, recording, and honing his craft. From Houston area venues and Texas listening rooms to songwriter festivals and opening stages, each performance gives him another opportunity to connect with an audience and every new song gives him another opportunity to grow as a writer.

There is still a lot of Dylan "Mississippi Smile" DuPont's story left to be written.

But there is a line connecting where he started to where he is today.

An eight year old boy learning three chords from his dad.

A thirteen year old finding his musical voice among the regulars at The Empty Glass.

A young songwriter learning the craft from writers who helped shape the music he loves.

And now, an emerging Texas artist being described as "an artist to watch in the next generation of Texas songwriters."

For Dylan, it has always come back to the same thing.

A good story and a song worth singing.