ray wylie hubbard photo

By Corky Carroll:

Ray Wylie Hubbard review

So there we were, Joe, Ken, and myself rolling into Knuckleheads Sunday night. I had an extra ticket and Ken had agreed to go with us, despite not even knowing who was playing. I felt bad about dragging him out of an evening nap to go honky tonking with us, but as soon as he got a couple of beers in him and managed to turn his shirt right side out, he was good to go.
Ray's producer/guitar player Gurf Morlix opened with a short set of acoustic songs which were well received. Before Ray and the band took the stage, I managed to run into him in the back room at Knuckleheads. He admired my Tom Russell 'Hotwalker' shirt and told me to be sure to say Hi to Tom when he played KC in April. I told Ray how much I enjoyed his new CD 'Snake Farm' and that I had seen him last time in town on his solo tour. He mentioned that tonight was gonna be a LOT louder, which was fine with me. As I turned to go, I stopped and asked Ray if he wanted to borrow my comb before he went onstage, but he just laughed and waved me off.
Ray and his band took the stage just before 8:00 and opened with 'Rabbit', a song off his new CD. He followed that up with the title song 'Snake Farm' (it just sounds nasty) and I had to admit, it WAS much louder than the last time I had seen him. And, it also sounded really good, kind of a swampy Texas blues type of sound, reminiscent of early Stones guitar sound. By this time, Ken was pounding me on the back and saying 'Man, these guys are great!" and I had to agree.
After taking a moment to thank all the fans (Knuckleheads was pretty full, good crowd) Ray strapped on a older guitar (see picture) and told us that this guitar used to belong to his Grandpa, he bought it back in the early 50's. Ray always wanted to play it, but Grandpa always told him no. Ray was on the road when he got a call from his Grandmother, he needed to head home as Grandpa was not doing well. Ray drove 30 hours to see his Grandpa, who was on his death bed, calling out for Ray. As he got to see his Grandpa for the last time, Ray once again asked about the guitar and Grandpa agreed to sell it to him! The crowd exploded in laughter at that, and Ray added that he wrote him a hot check. He then launched into 'Last Train to Amsterdam', then followed up with a love song to his wife 'Polecat'.
Ray and the band (guitar, bass, drums) were in tip top shape and the music was just as good as it could be. But once again, it was the little stories that Ray would tell between and sometimes during songs that were the highlight. He played 'Name Droppin', 'Rooster', 'Mississippi Flush' (the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush), 'Three Days Straight', 'Conversation With The Devil', and then one of my favorite cuts off the new CD 'Live And Die Rock and Roll'. In that song he manages to reference 20-25 different bands or songs, and he works them into the song in such a smooth way that you cannot help but be impressed with his fine songwriting talent. In fact, as good as the music is, it is often his lyrics that are the real hooks to his songs.
On to 'Dust Of The Chase', 'She Sang Amazing Grace' (that was a big crowd sing along), 'The Beauty Way' and then bowing to requests from fans who had driven in from Wichita just to hear it, he fired up that classic 'Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother'. That was also a sing along, but at one point Ray had the band quiet down and told the crowd that instead of buying his CD's as he had previously asked, we might be better off taking that money and buying a metronome, a pitch pipe and singing lessons instead! He also pointed out that people often asked him about writing songs, and the first thing he tells them is, "If you write a song, just make sure it is something that you can sing for the next 36 years!" As embarrassed as he is that he even wrote that song, he says twice a year he goes out to his mailbox and gets a real nice letter and a royalty check, and he feels a lot better about it.
Coming into the closing stretch of the show, the band tore into a smoking hot version of 'Wanna Rock and Roll/John The Revelator' that just about blew the roof off the joint! Man oh man, that one really cooked! At the end, Ray and the band took a bow and once again thanked all the fans for coming out. The applause reached a crescendo, everybody in the place was standing and clapping, whistles and cheers filled the air. So, they strapped on their instruments one last time and played their version of James McMurtry's 'Choctaw Bingo', which was also a huge crowd favorite.
With that, they waved to the crowd one last time and walked off stage, another fine performance complete. Joe, Ken and myself walked out into the cool night, steam rising off of us as we walked to the car. We were thoroughly pumped, and Ken continued to thank us for including him. As he said "I did not even know who this guy was a couple of hours ago, but now I am a huge fan!" So, with that, I felt my work for the night was done...

Submitted by your roving musical reporter,
Mark