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<\/a>I got up early this morning to catch Ray Wylie Hubbard at his Wimberly home as his 70th<\/sup> birthday approaches. Ray was up and plenty chipper for our little talk. He\u2019s been spending time in the studio working on his next disc, following up Ruffian\u2019s Misfortune. His energy is contagious and his sense of humor had me chuckling throughout the conversation.<\/p>\nHMR-Good morning Mr. Hubbard. Before we really get started, what\u2019s going on in your life that you\u2019d like to get out in front of the readers?<\/p>\n
RWH- Well, we\u2019ve got the gig coming up, that 70th<\/sup> birthday show at the Heights theatre and I\u2019m really looking forward to that. I\u2019ve played the Kessler theatre in Dallas and it\u2019s just a great, great gig. The same people are doing it so I\u2019m looking forward to that. I\u2019m in the studio recording a new album that\u2019ll be out in the spring.<\/p>\n HMR- Is this 70th<\/sup> birthday something special or is it just another day on the calendar?<\/p>\n RWH- Probably just another day on the calendar. I don\u2019t even dress up for Halloween. You know I haven\u2019t even really thought about it, it\u2019s like the old saying, one day at a time, that\u2019s how I take it. I get up and put one foot in front of the other today. I really haven\u2019t thought about it.<\/p>\n HMR- Every birthday is that way for me. I\u2019m just glad to get one.<\/p>\n RWH- Yeah I am too. I\u2019m not trying to make a big deal about it. I think\u00a0Judy put it on a poster, \u201c70th<\/sup> Birthday Bash\u201d, but I\u2019m too old to bash. I really am, but I enjoy the gigs, playing is still a joy for me. Travelling sometimes, the damned old airports are a drag, but the performing and like I say right now I\u2019m in the studio right now and I really enjoy that part of it and playing live is still fun and interesting for me.<\/p>\n HMR- You wrote an autobiography recently, \u201cA Life, Well\u2026Lived\u201d. I just got my copy in the mail and I haven\u2019t gotten a chance to get into it yet. Are there any special messages in it or is it just plain good entertainment?<\/p>\n RWH- Well, it\u2019s kind of threefold. I start out talking about growing up and how I got into music and kind of what got me up to this point. But then there\u2019s these old road stories thrown in there, just kind of Forest Gump things, kind of how things happened. And then I put song lyrics in it. Then at the end of it, too, I kind of talk about what I\u2019ve learned about song writing and inspirational craft and trying to live on certain spiritual principles without having to go to church every Sunday.<\/p>\n HMR- Yeah, I actually had a question down about that. I saw that \u201cBarefoot in Heaven\u201d was your rustic Christian contribution to Ruffian\u2019s Misfortune. I\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019ve put a cut on just about every record that has to do with faith and spirituality. Is this kind of like your tithe?<\/p>\n RWH- I haven\u2019t thought about it like that. I guess that I\u2019m sort of a spiritual mongrel. I don\u2019t follow any one professed dogma. I talk about it in the book. I try to live a spiritual life, being honest, having courage when I need to, not holding resentments, you know that whole thing. I talk about all of that in the book. I haven\u2019t really thought about putting ten songs on an album and one of them is kind of an old country blues gospel song. That\u2019s just kind of the way it is.<\/p>\n HMR- I think that\u2019s great. I enjoy those quite a bit.<\/p>\n RWH- You know, I feel very fortunate. I\u2019m sleeping with the president of my record label. That\u2019s not Clive Davis, that\u2019s my wife, Judy. She comes in and says you write about whatever you want to write about, whether it\u2019s about Les Paul gold tops or it\u2019s about Charlie Musselwhite or it\u2019s an old gospel blues song. You record it the way you want to record it and she says \u201cI\u2019ll try to sell the damn things\u201d. So, for a writer, that\u2019s a really good place to be. I\u2019m not writing for a publishing company. I don\u2019t owe a publishing company twelve songs a year. I\u2019m not writing a song to get somebody to cut it. Whatever inspiration I get I try to write it into a pretty good song, whether it\u2019s kind of an old naughty blues, or has a spiritual gospel tint or it\u2019s just about a Les Paul. I\u2019m not writing and thinking about the future of the song. I\u2019m just kind of writing it for right then. I feel very fortunate as an old cat to have that kind of freedom to write about Charlie Musselwhite or whatever. It\u2019s just a really good place for me to be right now.<\/p>\n HMR- You know that I\u2019ve always seen you as just being Ray Wylie Hubbard and keeping on going with your thing and now we have this big Americana music movement that seems to have risen up and surrounded you.<\/p>\n RWH- Well you know, I have no idea what\u2019s going on with Nashville country music. I don\u2019t know any of those people. I just don\u2019t follow that. People ask me \u201cWho do you listen to?\u201d and I just listen to friends of mine, you know, like Hayes Carll and James McMurtrey and Gurf Morlix, guys like that. They\u2019re writing songs that I really enjoy a lot. So to answer your question, if you really think about maybe ten years ago, the whole Americana thing was like Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely, Sam Bush, the Jayhawks, Kevin Welch\u2026kind of that vibe. Now you\u2019ve got Robert Plant and all of these guys into Americana, it\u2019s a widespread thing. It\u2019s good for me. I\u2019ve never been, you know, main stream country. I\u2019ve always been on the fringe of the whole entertainment industry.<\/p>\n HMR- It\u2019s as much blues and rock and roll as country. I know.<\/p>\n RWH- I feel real fortunate. I started off in folk music back in high school with Michael Murphey and BW Stevenson and the Austin scene with Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt and Rusty Wier and those cats and Jerry Jeff Walker. So the lyrics have always been important to me. Then I got into my forties, I cleaned up my act. I went to see Lightning Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb and I said I\u2019d like to play guitar like that, rather than to just be a strummer. So I talk about it in the book. In my forties, I actually took guitar lessons and learned how to finger pick. And then I got into John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters and things like that. So right now the songs have this low down groove to them, but hopefully the lyrics are a little more folk, having that influence of folk music where the lyrics are little more to them than just \u201cI woke up this morning and had the blues\u201d. I love that songs like that, too. I\u2019m not dissing those songs, but for me, that\u2019s just kind of where I am. I feel very grateful that I\u2019m putting out records and still selling a few and I get to travel around and play them for people.<\/p>\n HMR- You mentioned appreciating all of those other fellas\u2019 music. You did a collaborative piece on the last album, \u201cBad on Fords\u201d with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn. Do you enjoy doing the collaborative writing? I know you did some with Hayes Carll.<\/p>\n RWH- Yeah I really do. It\u2019s kind of like writing a song that you never would have written otherwise. I really do enjoy it. When you\u2019re writing with somebody that you really respect and you throw out a line and you say, well that\u2019s a crappy line, but then with the song it really works. You know what I mean? I do enjoy it.<\/p>\n HMR- I get it. Sometimes you bounce something off somebody and you feel bad about it, but the other guy comes back with yeah, but if we do it like this\u2026.<\/p>\n RWH- Yeah, you know working with Ronnie, he\u2019s like an icon of country, one of the biggest country stars there is, but he\u2019s really down to earth. We got together and I said what do you want to write about? I don\u2019t know, why don\u2019t we write about being Oklahoma car thieves. So we wrote it and cut it. He sent it to Sammy Hagar so that he could play guitar on it. So Sammy cut it and put it on his last record. Ronnie called up and said Sammy Hagar just cut that and put it on his last record. So I said that\u2019s cool with me. So when I said that you write it without thinking about the future of it, you never know where it\u2019s going to go. There was this song I wrote four or five years ago called\u00a0“Dust of the Chase”\u00a0and now it\u2019s in this movie called \u201cHell or High Water\u201d with Jeff Bridges in it. It\u2019s a great movie, even if my song wasn\u2019t in it. So you never know what\u2019s going to happen to them.<\/p>\n HMR- I\u2019ve got one last question here. I noticed that your son, Lucas, was included on guitar on this last album. How was it working with your son? Does it give you a sense of pride?<\/p>\n RWH- I\u2019ve been working with him since he was about sixteen. It was a lot better before he found out that the other guys in the band were getting paid. It was great back then. He\u2019s a great player. He doesn\u2019t show off. He comes from that school of Buddy Miller and Derek O\u2019Brian and Seth James, school of cool. He\u2019s got a lot of taste in his licks. He plays exactly what the song needs. He has really good taste and he\u2019s a good player, so yeah, I get a sense of pride when he throws down a lead. He travels well and he\u2019s got his head screwed on straight, so yeah, it\u2019s a joy.<\/p>\n HMR- I really enjoyed that last record, Ruffian\u2019s Misfortune. I wrote a little review on it. I thought that it was a great band that you had put together. I really liked the drums on it.<\/p>\n RWH- Yeah that\u2019s old Rick Richards. He played on a whole bunch of my records, but then about three years ago I get this phone call from Joe Walsh. He says, I don\u2019t want to steal your band, but I want to steal your \u201cSnake Farm\u201d band. So Rick Richards, George Reiff and Bukka Allen went out with Joe for about a year. So I\u2019ve got a young kid now named Kyle Schneider that can really lay down that mean groove, too. Rick is just doing a lot of session work now. It\u2019s just great. I feel really proud of the record. I feel very fortunate to have worked with Lloyd Maines and Gurf Morlix and George Reiff as producer. So this next one here, I\u2019m just going to go in by myself. I guess that a lawyer that defends himself has a fool for a client. So I\u2019m gonna go ahead and produce it myself. Those other guys are so busy, I can\u2019t even get in touch with them now. But thank you very much. I\u2019m very proud of how that record came out.<\/p>\n HMR- Well, again, I really enjoyed it and I\u2019m looking forward to the next one.<\/p>\n RWH- Okay well listen. Drop me a line about the book when you\u2019re done with it. I think it\u2019s a good read.<\/p>\n HMR- I\u2019ll do that and I\u2019ll be catching your show at the birthday bash or whatever Judy is calling it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written\u00a0by James Killen Interview- Ray Wylie Hubbard 10\/29\/2016 I got up early this morning to catch Ray Wylie Hubbard at his Wimberly home as his 70th birthday approaches. Ray was up and plenty chipper for our little talk. He\u2019s been spending time in the studio working on his next disc, following up Ruffian\u2019s Misfortune. His… <\/p>\n