BEST OF RAY AND THE JILL

HOUR ONE

Tuesday,October 10, 2023

Q:Who became friends in middle school when their gym class had to run around the track and they were the two slowest.

The most common paper currency in the U.S. WAS $1 bills . . . until 2017, when they were surpassed by $100 bills.

20 years ago, there were 8 billion $1 bills in circulation, compared to 4.6 billion $100 bills . . . almost half as many.  Now, there are 14.3 billion $1 bills out there, compared to a whopping 18.5 billion $100 bills . . . or 30% MORE.

THE JILL"S MIND BEND AGAINDER

The marshmallows in Lucky Charms cereal have a name: 

Get Funkey with Ray and Jill

Hour one Thursday 10/05

Jeff Carson was one of the new country singers who was able to parlay the mass success of country music in the early '90s to a massive hit with his eponymous first album.

Carson was born in Tulsa, OK, but raised in the small Arkansas town of Gravette. As a child, he sang in church and played harmonica and guitar. While he was in high school, he and his friends formed a band to play their school's talent show, performing the Eagles' "Seven Bridges Road." After the ad hoc group won second place, Carson was convinced to pursue a musical career. Following his high-school graduation, he entered a talent contest at an entertainment complex called Ozark Mountain Music in Rogers, AR. Although he didn't come in first, the winner asked Carson to play in his house band. For the next four years, he played with the outfit, until they finally disbanded.

Carson moved to Branson, MO, where he played bass in local bands and started writing his own songs. In Branson, he met and married his wife, Kim Cooper, who encouraged him to move to Nashville. Kim had a friend who played at the Opryland Hotel and his group Texana needed a bassist -- hence, Carson moved to Music City in 1989. After some persuasion, he convinced the hotel to book him as a solo act. Around the same time, he signed a songwriting deal with Little Big Town Music and began singing on demo tapes for a variety of companies. Eventually, publisher/producer Chuck Howard heard Carson's original material and signed a publishing and development deal with him. By 1994, Jeff had signed with Curb Records.

2021 56th Academy of Country Music Awards nominees   are:

Entertainer

Luke Bryan

Eric Church

Luke Combs

Thomas Rhett

Chris Stapleton

Female

Kelsea Ballerini

Miranda Lambert

Ashley McBryde

Maren Morris

Carly Pearce

Male

Dierks Bentley

Luke Combs

Eric Church

Thomas Rhett

Chris Stapleton

Duo

Brooks & Dunn

Brothers Osborne

Dan + Shay

Florida Georgia Line

Maddie & Tae

Group

Lady A

Little Big Town

Old Dominion

The Cadillac Three

The Highwomen

New Female

Ingrid Andress

Tenille Arts

Gabby Barrett

Mickey Guyton

Caylee Hammack

New Male

Jimmie Allen

Travis Denning

Hardy

Cody Johnson

Parker McCollum

Album

Born Here Live Here Die Here, Luke Bryan

Mixtape Vol. 1, Kane Brown

Never Will, Ashley McBryde

Skeletons, Brothers Osborne

Starting Over, Chris Stapleton

Single

"Bluebird," Miranda Lambert

"I Hope," Gabby Barrett

"I Hope You’re Happy Now," Carly Pearce and Lee Brice

"More Hearts Than Mine," Ingrid Andress

"The Bones," Maren Morris

Song

"Bluebird,"  Miranda Lambert

"One Night Standards," Ashley McBryde

"Some People Do," Old Dominion

"Starting Over," Chris Stapleton

"The Bones," Maren Morris

Video

"Better Than We Found It," Maren Morris

"Bluebird," Miranda Lambert

"Gone," Dierks Bentley

"Hallelujah," Carrie Underwood and John Legend

"Worldwide Beautiful," Kane Brown

Music Event

"Be A Light," Thomas Rhett f/Reba McEntire, Hillary Scott, Chris Tomlin, Keith Urban

"Does To Me," Luke Combs f/Eric Church

"I Hope You’re Happy Now," Carly Pearce and Lee Brice

"Nobody But You," Blake Shelton f/Gwen Stefani

"One Beer," Hardy f/Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson

"One Too Many," Keith Urban f/P!nk

Larry Fleet is a country singer steeped in the rhythms of soul. His facility with R&B lends a swagger to his honky tonk and a simmer to his ballads, qualities that brought him to the attention of Jake Owen and, in turn, to the televised country music competition Real Country. Once Fleet's season on Real Country wrapped up in 2018, he signed with Big Loud Records and released his debut album Workin' Hard in late 2019.

A native of White Bluff, Tennessee, Larry Fleet was drawn to music at an early age, playing and singing in his family's bluegrass band when he was just six years old. He spent some time in Chattanooga before heading to Nashville. During those early days, he balanced his fledgling musical career with family life, writing songs and working as a promo man at WSM radio. An early publishing deal didn't generate any success, so he kept grinding away, writing songs when he wasn't working manual labor or as an electrician.

Fleet's breakthrough arrived when he played a set of covers at a wedding barn party in 2017, a shindig Jake Owen just happened to attend. Owen took a shine to Fleet. The two became friends, Owen took the singer out on tour and, more importantly, helped him land a spot on Real Country, the USA Network talent competition which featured Owen as a judge. Fleet placed second on Real Country, by which time he had a handful of independent singles -- "Wasted Time," "Working Man," and "Die Young" -- to his credit.

Big Loud Records, the label Owen called home, signed the singer to a deal in 2019. Fleet set to work with Joey Moi, a producer best known for his work with Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen, and cut his debut album, Workin' Hard. Released in November 2019, the album featured the singles "Tied Down" and "Lied About Love." Fleet returned with new music in the summer of 2020 through the release of the single "Where I Find God."