Today was a very hard day out in the field lugging around the nuclear density gauge to test the density of the backfill being placed, above the pipe and below Tuckerton Road, during the emergency repair of the dam at Sioux Lake. And right now it hurts to even TYPE, and my mind well it’s gone to sleep well before the rest of my body!! But I’ll try to write something and any errors can be blamed on my tiredness!!
On this date in 1946 on of my favorite Texas Music artist/Americana Artist Ray Wylie Hubbard was born. Now like Booker T and :”Green Onions” in my music world Ray Wylie is usually associated with one song….. “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother”! A song that Jerry Jeff Walker made semi-famous on his album Viva Terlingua! Here’s a little information about Ray from his biography at All Music…
A leading figure of the progressive country movement of the 1970s, singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard remains best known for authoring the perennial anthem “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother.” Born November 13, 1946, in Soper, Oklahoma, Hubbard and his family relocated to Dallas during the mid-’50s; there he learned to play guitar, eventually forming a folk group with fellow aspiring musician Michael Martin Murphey. Befriended by the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Hubbard later formed a trio named Three Faces West, which regularly performed at the Outpost lub in Red River, New Mexico, a musical hotbed also trafficked by artists including Steve lb and Bill & Bonnie Hearne. Upon the breakup of Three Faces West, Hubbard toured the southwestern coffeehouse circuit as a solo act before forming another group, Texas Fever; they too proved short-lived, and he returned to New Mexico to again take up residence at the Outpost.
I missed most of Ray’s lean music years between “Up Against the Wall” and 1999 when Hubbard returned to the music world with Crusades of the Restless Nights after being lost battling personal his demons from that point on most of Hubbard’s albums can be found in my music library the albums include…..
… Eternal & Lowdown, which was issued in summer 2001, captured the haunting poetics of religion, philosophy, and salvation. It was followed in 2003 by the raw and gripping Growl, the laid-back Delirium Tremolos in 2005, and Snake Farm in 2006. Hubbard’s near constant touring schedule and curating his own Grit ‘N’ Groove Festival in 2009 and 2010 kept him busy. He eventually emerged with A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) in 2011, and followed it up with The Grifter’s Hymnal in 2012. Full biography at AllMusic
Now one of the things that I love about Ray are the stories he tells that go with the songs. One of my favorites is the Into to The Last Train from Amsterdam. The first part of that story tells the tale of Ray moving to Poetry Texas. I looked for a video of the story and couldn’t find one and then I tried to just upload a part of the mp3 and was unsuccessful so I made this video ……(you can listen to the full story here the story is at the end of the song “When She sang Amazing Grace” another favorite!)
and here’s Ray performing “Last Train to Amsterdam” So Happy Birthday Ray! And I didn’t use that Obligatory Encore – but folks can listen to it Here
