Chef’s Jam Session to David Allan Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” Turns into a Restaurant Singalong

A talented chef can turn a counter full of ingredients into an unforgettable meal. However, some chefs take things a step further. For instance, Chef Dancuk, also known as Ricky Bobby Chef pulls double duty as a cook and entertainer. The hibachi chef who works at Fujiyama in Beckley, West Virginia might break out his ukulele and sing a song. In a recent video, he treated diners to a cover of David Allan Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.”

“This song is for my brother L in Florida,” the chef says after strumming a few chords. “L, this song for you, okay,” he added before launching into the song. As he played the greatest country and western song ever written, the diners seated at his station swayed from side to side and sang along. Watch the good vibes unfold below.

More About Chef Dancuk

According to an interview he did with Hashtag WV, the chef grew up in Indonesia. He came to the United States in 2003, at the age of 29 after earning an engineering degree. Then, he started his career as a Japanese Hibachi chef in 2005. Five years later, he moved to West Virginia.

He told the publication about why he goes the extra mile for his customers and posts the videos on social media. “My purpose is to share messages of positivity to the world and having this ability makes me very happy,” he said. “I think social media is a very important thing right now because if we have a lot of followers, we have a greater influence to spread good vibes to people,” he added. Chef  Dancuk currently has 1.5 million followers on TikTok and 369,000 subscribers on YouTube.

More About the David Allan Coe Classic

David Allen Coe originally released the song on his 1975 album Once Upon a Rhyme. For years, Steve Goodman received full writing credit for the song. However, decades later, his co-writer revealed himself. That mysterious co-writer was none other than songwriting legend John Prine.

Prine famously asked to be uncredited on the song because he thought it was a goofy novelty song. More importantly, he didn’t want to offend the country music community.

Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns