Dusty Drake  Dean Buffalini (born February 23, 1965) is an American country music artist, known professionally as Dusty Drake. Drake played various venues in his native Pennsylvania for several years before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, co-writing a 1996 single for Joe Diffie. By 2003, Drake was signed to Warner Bros. Records as a recording artist. That year, he released three singles from his self-titled debut album, including "One Last Time", his first Top 40 entry on the Hot Country Songs chart. Drake released a fourth single for the label before exiting in 2004. In 2007, he signed to the independent Big Machine Records label, charting with the single "Say Yes", co-written by Brett James, Don Schlitz and Josh Turner. An album for Big Machine was originally slated to be released in 2007 but was never issued, and after showing the same level of commitment his former label showed, Drake exited the label's roster in 2008. Overall, Drake has charted six times on the "Billboard" country charts. Two of his singles have reached Top 40: "One Last Time" (inspired by the September 11 attacks) at No. 26, and "Say Yes" at No. 36. Dean Buffalini was born in Monaca, Pennsylvania, United States, on February 23, 1965 as the middle child of seven children. He gained an early interest in music from his father and grandfather, both of whom enjoyed listening to country and bluegrass music. While in high school, he sang lead and played drums in local bands. After graduating high school, Buffalini studied to be an air traffic controller. He held that position for four years at a regional airport. At the same time, he pursued his career in country music, eventually fronting a band called Silverado in addition to performing solo. Signed as an opening act for Garth Brooks at a venue in Salem, Ohio, Buffalini was mistakenly identified as "Dusty" by a concert promoter, and as a result, he began to use Dusty as his stage name. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1993 in search of a record deal. Shortly afterward, he changed his stage name to Dusty Drake, because he was told by a manager that "there were Deans coming out the wazoo" (such as Billy Dean, Dean Miller, Stacy Dean Campbell, and Dean Dillon). Drake then found work as a demo singer and songwriter. His first cut as a songwriter was "C-O-U-N-T-R-Y", a single for Joe Diffie in 1996 from the album "Life's So Funny".