Music Calendar

About Ray Wylie Hubbard

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 club 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.

While in Red River, Hubbard rekindled his friendship with Walker, who in 1973 recorded Hubbard‘s most famous (if least representative) composition, “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” on his acclaimed Viva Terlingua LP. The success of the album guaranteed Hubbard instant cult status within progressive country circles, and at the same time, he set about organizing a new backing band, dubbed the Cowboy Twinkies. Considered by many the first cowpunk group — their regular set lists included everything from Merle Haggard songs to a show-stopping cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Communication Breakdown” — the Cowboy Twinkies‘ music met considerable resistance in both country and rock quarters.

In April 2015 Hubbard released another self-produced set, The Ruffian’s Misfortune, which like his previous two albums was released through his own Bordello Records imprint. Also that year, Hubbard published his long-awaited autobiography, A Life… Well, Lived. In August 2017 he returned with the studio album Tell the Devil I’m Getting There as Fast as I Can, which featured guest appearances by Lucinda Williams, Eric Church, Patty Griffin, and Bright Light Social Hour.