How do a husband and wife work together and stay together? The answer is not just love, but lots and lots of like. Duane and Abby are proof that you gotta have things in common. They’ve been married for over 15 years, and working together daily even longer. After spending more than a decade adrift from family in Memphis, Tennessee, they decided to change their lives and answer the call in their hearts to come home. Central Illinois is the perfect location, with its county roads and friendly neighbors, just 99 miles from where Abby grew up in Indiana. They’ve bought a few [potentially] beautiful acres with a big ol barn, and everyday in Champaign they feel themselves becoming closer to who their supposed to be.
Duane and Abby have three grown children, Kristen, Austin and Bailey, all spread out across the southeast, living their best lives, but not churning out any grandkids! Their beloved beagle, Georgia, passed away at 15 years old last May. After a few months, they realized that dogless life just wasn’t for them, and they adopted a rambunctious blue tick mix called Allie. She is loving the move from the suburbs to the country, with so many more trails to sniff and squirrels to chase.
In their free time, Duane and Abby love to travel in their RV, read fiction, and play board games. They are passionate about visiting State and National Parks. Turkey Run is a local favorite; Abby has been hiking trail 3 since she was a kid. Their favorite National Park so far has been Rocky Mountain National Park, but they haven’t been to Yellowstone yet. Duane is a big fan of authors like CJ Box, John Grisham, and Alex Kava, while Abby leans more toward historical fiction and romance. She loves Beatriz Williams, Diana Gabaldon, and Sarah MacLean. Their family is obsessed with a board game called Catan, which is like Monopoly on steroids, but almost never ends in throwing the board and sending the pieces flying.
They’ve always lived the country music lifestyle, but these days, they relate like never before. Songs like Buy Dirt, Till You Can’t, and Half of My Hometown hit home in a new way, and often cause spontaneous tears and laughter. Abby says, “Coming back home after thinking it would never be in the cards for us, buying property, finding a radio family that has embraced us made us feel so welcome-we’re finally building the life we’ve always dreamed of, getting our hands dirty and laying our heads down at night knowing we’re on the right path. Like Cody Johnson says, If you’ve got a chance, take it while you’ve got a chance.”
They’re so excited to join the WIXY 100.3 family, where the focus is on the WIXY country community. “Before moving to Champaign, we were really burned out on country music; so many stations just play the same songs over and over,” according to Duane, “WIXY has been a huge breath of fresh air, with such a bigger, deeper library than we’d grown used to. We are so happy to be a station where we not only enjoy playing country music, but actually listening to it too!”
About the show:
Duane & Abby, a usually happily married couple invite listeners to join their conversation, weighing in on the buzziest topics of the day, myriad random things you didn’t know you needed to know, and the most personal of personal problems. With this husband and wife team, very little is off limits when it comes to sharing the victories and failures of day-to-day life as partners, parents, and people. Let Duane & Abby start your day with a positive, high-energy, uplifting vibe that will put a smile on your face and a lightness in your spirit.
