Photo by Mike Lamb Mylan Ray plays car song music during the Shades of the Past Car Show in Marshall on Saturday.

MARSHALL — It’s been almost 50 years, but Mylan Ray still remembers his first car show working as a DJ.

“Funny enough, the very first car show I ever did was back in the late ’70s and it was my first one ever,” he said. “I didn’t think anybody wanted to hear Beach Boys car songs all day long, so I took along a whole bunch of country songs and people were going, ‘what in the world.’ Well I learned real quick that they do want to hear Beach Boys car songs all the time.”

On Saturday at the Shades of the Past Car show and with “Will You Let It Ride” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive blaring out the speakers above him, Ray proclaimed this is his last car show working as a DJ.

“I think everybody here knows it. I have been mentioning it on my Facebook page and mentioned it on my radio show. And I think I told a lot of people last year when I was here I was going to come back one more time,” he said.

Ray took a break to tee up another car song when he took the time to explain the reasoning behind putting the brakes on car shows and dances.

He explained that a couple summers ago he did 17 car shows in three months.

“My wife wasn’t dong real well at that point. She was telling me that was too many; we couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t do anything with the grandkids, our kids. We couldn’t go on vacations or anything. So I told her I’d cut it in half. So the next year I did like eight or nine, and then the year after that I cut it in half again and did four, and then last year I did two. And I said last year was it,” he said.

But then organizers of the Shades of the Past pleaded for one more time. Ray returned Saturday for his fifth straight appearance at the Marshall show.

“The guys from the Shades of the Past came up to me and they said, ‘We know you want to quit, but this is our 40th anniversary. It’s really a big one. It would mean a lot to us if you came back and did one more.’ So this is the only one I’m doing all year, just because the guys twisted my arm. I’m glad I’m here. I’m having a great time. I’m seeing people that I’m gonna miss,” he said.

Ray said the Marshall show has become his favorite because it’s the largest in southwest Minnesota and he considers it the “pinnacle” of all the shows.

“There’s just so many wonderful people. I always tell everybody on the microphone and talk about events that are coming, but I think I spend more time talking off the microphone to people than I do on. I bring a stool to sit on and I haven’t sat down on it yet. Every time I’m talking to somebody on this side, somebody’s waiting for me on the other side,” Ray said. “I love that part of it. A lot of nice people come up and they enjoy the music, which makes it more pleasurable for me too. They like the music I’m playing that much. It means a lot.”

Ray estimates he has worked as a DJ at 2,200 dances and car shows over the years. That’s in addition to the more than 50 years on the air with Pipestone’s KISD and KLOH radio.

In 2012, he was inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Music Association Hall of Fame; in 2014, he was inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association Hall of Fame; and in 2017, he was inducted into the Legends of Dakota Country Music Hall of Fame. In November, he will be among nine 2026 Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductees.

“A lot of people are coming up and they’re trying to say maybe I should do just this one every year to come back,” Ray said. “I was going, no, I really gotta stick to my guns on this one.”