Frank Ray’s Band Rehearsed Remotely Before Its 20th Grand Ole Opry Appearance

Frank Ray’s band had a scheduling problem before its 20th appearance at the Grand Ole Opry: its members live in different states. With the Nashville singer set to perform as part of the venue’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, the group needed to be ready for extended arrangements, transitions, and material shared with the Opry’s house musicians. Rather than wait until everyone could gather in person, they rehearsed remotely using Lutefish, a low-latency system that let them work through the trickier passages from Nashville, Dallas, Chicago, and elsewhere.

The mechanics matter less than the constraint they address. Rehearsal time at the Opry is short, and much of it goes toward familiarizing house musicians with arrangements rather than polishing an artist’s own band. Ray’s guitarist John Wills frames the benefit plainly: arriving already knowing the beginnings, endings, and transitions means the in-room rehearsal can be spent on details that only exist in the room.

One example is “Good For the Soul,” the title track of Ray’s new EP, whose introduction had to be lengthened to cover Ray’s walk-on. Ordinarily that work might have been squeezed into a single rushed session. Ray says the real shift is frequency. “We’re able to coordinate rehearsals with much more convenience now,” he says, and claims the tool has earned his trust: “If you can trust this device to prepare you for the biggest stage in country music, you can trust it anywhere.”

That’s an endorsement from a user, not a verdict on remote rehearsal as a whole. But for a working band whose members are geographically split, the ability to rehearse on a regular schedule between tours and recording sessions changes what the first in-person run-through is actually for.