Sometimes things don’t live up to all the hype about them.

But, sometimes they do.

You might hear about a new movie that is supposed to be one of the best of the year.

But, when you go, you are disappointed. It wasn’t as good as they said it was.

However, once in a while, things are even better than the hype.

Take the Dutton Family Show at this year’s Faribault County Fair, for instance.

Members of the fair board were doing all they could to hype this show and build attendance for it.

I wrote an article about it for our special section for the fair, so I had gathered quite a lot of information about the Duttons.

They sounded like good family entertainment. But, it was phrases in their publicity release such as “Branson’s most versatile musical family” and “Branson’s best entertainment” that makes one wonder if they are as good as all the hype.

Well, they are.

The show was very entertaining, from the opening to the grand finale.

The Duttons do have a lot of talent singing, dancing and playing a wide variety of music.

When they played one number and then started trading instruments on the fly it was pretty impressive.

They lined up and were each playing either a banjo, violin, guitar or mandolin.

Then the person on one end of the line moved to the far end and they all traded instruments down the line.

And they did it again and again.

It was true; each one of them could play six different musical instruments.

At another point in the show they lined up with each one playing a violin. However, they were playing the violin of the person next to them, not the one they were holding.

Then of course there were the times they ‘showed off’ by playing a banjo, violin or mandolin behind their back. That can’t be easy to do.

At another point in the show, one of the Dutton’s came out in full evening gown and played a classical number on the violin with some backup by other family members that was fantastic.

So, not only do they play a variety of instruments, they also play a variety of music.

They started with some country music, but also did some classic rock and roll, blue grass and a little bit of hillbilly thrown in.

Oh yeah, and it wouldn’t be a Branson show without some comedy. The Duttons did a fine job on that, too.

And, how their cousin from Spain could play all those horns on his silly outfit was beyond my comprehension.

It was the funniest and most amazing version of “Dueling Banjos” I have ever seen.

Of course, with that many violins on the stage, they would have to play “The Orange Blossom Special,” and they did.

But, before the song, Sheila Dutton, the mom of the group, dedicated the performance to “their good friend, LeRoy Larson, of the Faribault County Fair.”

Fair board member Larson was the driving force in getting the Duttons back to the fair this year. But, he passed away on April 22 and could not see the fruit of his effort.

Larson’s widow, Joyce, and family members were at the show and were honored by the Duttons.

The Duttons had performed at the Faribault County Fair in 1994.

But, it turns out, that was not the only other time they were singing and playing their songs in Blue Earth.

The first time was in 1992 as part of the Blue Earth Valley Concert series. That was one of their very first tours.

At that time, the Dutton children were all pretty young just kids.

Now they are married and have lots of kids of their own.

Many of those new generation of Dutton kids were on the stage last Friday night at the fair performing singing and playing.

It was a pretty cool moment when they sang to their grandpa Dutton, and when they were on stage at the end, playing violins themselves.

Even though the Dutton bus traveled up to Blue Earth from Branson on Friday for the show, and the whole family had to be back in Branson for a show on Saturday, they did take a little time out to do ‘the tourist thing’ in Blue Earth.

If you go to their website, www.theduttons.com, you can check out a story all about their travel to Blue Earth and their performance at the Faribault County Fair.

After you get to the main page of the website, click on the link to “The Duttons latest news.”

There you can check out some really cool photos of the Dutton grandchildren checking out the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth.

Oh yeah, everybody has to have their photo taken with the big guy.