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Dub was born November 1, 1926 in Elida, New Mexico. He started school in Melrose, N.M. where his father, D. W. Crain, Sr. (a Hall of Fame member as well) was band director. At the end of that year, the family moved to Abilene, Texas, where D. W., Sr. assumed the band directing duties at Abilene Christian College. Dub continued his public school education in Abilene, and played in the Abilene High School Band under the direction of Dr. Raymond Bynum (one of the first six men inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall Of Fame). They participated in many contests and won 1st division in the old National Band Contest. Dub participated in many solo contests, playing tuba, and winning five state solo championships and two national championships.

After high school, Dub enrolled in Hardin-Simmons, but stayed only one year as he joined the Navy and was accepted into the Navy School of Music in Washington D.C. After graduation from the music school, he was assigned to the fleet bands and spent the rest of the war on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. He returned to Washington D.C. after the war and played in the Navy Band for seven months before being discharged. Once again he enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University and became a member of the Cowboy Band. While still in school, he organized the band at Rotan, Texas in 1948, and after graduating from Hardin-Simmons in 1949, Dub was hired as band director at Lovington, New Mexico. In 1952, Dub went to Abernathy, Texas where his bands won many outstanding awards and Sweepstakes. His Abernathy Band was one of the largest and most respected of all of the South Plains bands, regardless of classification. In 1960, he left the band directing profession to experience the joys and frustrations of the retail music business. He quickly established a new reputation… "a first division band clinician".

Dub went to Petersburg, Texas in 1969 to take over the 4th division, 25 piece Petersburg Band. In his second year there, he brought the band back to a Sweepstakes organization. Dub moved to Sunray, Texas in 1972 where he stayed one year. The opportunity then came for Dub to make the move to Dumas where he served as high school band director until his retirement in May of 1988.

All of Dub's bands were consistent 1st Division winners, and during his tenure of band directing, his bands accumulated 22 Sweepstakes. Dub has served as adjudicator and clinician throughout Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. He is one of the most sought-after clinicians in the Panhandle and South Plains. He is called the "walking Stroboconn".

Dub served as President of T.B.A. in 1979, and is a retired member of T.M.E.A., T.B.A., T.M.A.A., and Phi Beta Mu. Dub Crain and his wife, Mary Frances continue to reside in Dumas.