Dean is originally from Concordia, Kansas but has lived in Hutchinson, Kansas since he was young.  He picked up the guitar at age 10 and hasn’t put it down since.  

In May of 2006, Dean took over lead guitar duties when Rain founding member Randy Swisher departed the group. Dean’s first night was complete with fireworks to commemorate the occasion.  Rain was performing for the annual American Diabetes Association fundraiser on the roof of the Hyatt Hotel parking garage in downtown Wichita on the final night of the 2006 Wichita River Festival – right across the river from where the fireworks were set off.  Maybe it was an omen.

He's an extremely versatile guitarist, and you’ll see and hear that in his playing.  While studying at Hutchinson Community College, he performed in the HCC Jazz Band and in Wichita he's played in the Friends University Jazz Band.  But Dean also has experience playing country with Take Five, classic rock with Diva Down and metal with bands Vae Victis and Appoggiatura. He has one self-produced solo album to his credit titled Regeneration, a compilation of his own 80’s metal arrangements of oldies from the 50’s and 60’s. Throw down a few bucks for his CD at a Rain show and hear him shred on Sleepwalk, Secret Agent Man, Louie Louie and other surprises. The band let’s him sell his cds at the gigs but won't let him grow a mullet.

He can play the licks or he can teach you how to play them. Dean has been giving private lessons since his teens and has been teaching guitar and bass at Damm Music Center www.dammmusic.com  in Wichita since it opened in 2003. In addition to teaching, with the rest of the store’s impressive staff of instructors, Dean is the resident guitar technical guru with over 16 years experience playing, repairing and customizing solid body electrics, semi-hollow bodies, electric basses, and acoustic guitars, as well as working on amplifiers. Dean has earned the respect of many guitarists and other musicians in Wichita and the surrounding area for his skills as a luthier (Look it up).

Come out and see the fireworks Dean adds to the band!