Bubba recently could be seen performing in the lounge at TheatreVirginia, preceding country singer Julie Johnson’s shows. “I must’ve done something wrong,” he says, “because they asked me to come back.”

His wife and business partner, Carol Bateman, smiles indulgently as he goes through his shtick in a leisurely backcountry Virginia drawl.

When does Bubba become her husband, Stan Bateman, again?

She sighs. Bubba’s always Bubba, she says. When she needs a break, she tells him to get out of the house. — Melissa Scott