The hippie-walks-into-a-redneck-bar novelty might be dated, but the endurance of Ray Wylie Hubbard's character-heavy songs show how much people, Texans especially, want to believe that the intersection of hillbilly and open-minded intellectual is a natural thing.
He’s best known for penning the boozy “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother,” that Jerry Jeff Walker immortalized and even Cracker covered. But Hubbard has grown beyond that into a songwriter, screenwriter, radio host and performer driven to present blues and country as vessels for deep, important thoughts. Not that he takes himself all that seriously.
Q: Do you feel a responsibility to nurture younger songwriters like Hayes Carll, who call you the Wylie Lama?
A: I hope not. If they mess up, I don't want to be responsible. I don't want to be held responsible for Hayes Carll. No, I really respect Hayes. He takes his writing seriously, but he takes himself lightly and I really appreciate that.
Q: On your new album, you guys wrote a real throwback number together , “Drunken Poet’s Dream.” How did that take shape?
A: We got together. I walked in, he said, "I've got this idea for a song." I go, what is it? He said, "I got a woman, she's wild as Rome." I said, "She likes being naked and gazed upon." Then I said, OK, let's write it.
I’ve been reading all these French poets, Verlaine and Rimbaud, and that was the thought behind it because it kind of reminded me of Hayes. He’s very easy to work with because he cares about lyrics. I guess I’ll go ahead and take full responsibility for him.
Q: What advice do you dispense the most?
A: I always say, read "The Grapes of Wrath." Don't just listen to "The Ghost of Tom Joad." I tell young writers to read.
Q: How do you find your muse? Do you wait for inspiration to strike or do you sit down and just start doing it?
A: That inspiration, whenever it happens, just take it. I don't really wait for it to happen. I'm just ready and aware of it when it does. One of my favorite quotes is from Flannery O'Connor. She said, "Never second guess inspiration." And I would add: it's OK to rewrite.
Q: Do you write every day?
A: Pretty much.
Q: Did you see the movie “Crazy Heart” and did that look at all familiar to you?
A: No. I was talking to Billy Joe [Shaver] and he said, "Nah, we don't need to see that. We lived it."
Q: You write about the book of Revelation and seeing the face of your savior. Do you consider yourself a Christian?
A: Well, I prefer the term spiritual awakening to religious conversion. I try to live on spiritual principles, whether they're Christian, Buddhist, Native American ... there are certain principles I try to live by. I don't always do it. I'm more of a spiritual mongrel. I don't consider myself anything.
Q: When you look at your career being divided into two periods -- one fueled by youth and chemicals then later getting sober and into poetry and spirituality -- do your older songs feel like they were written by someone else?
A: Yup. I look at them now and go, what was I thinking? And obviously, I wasn't. It definitely does seem like someone else. Someone who was pretty self-absorbed.
Q: Do you live feel like you lived in the shadow of "Redneck Mother" for a long time?
A: I would go to these places to play and people would shout, "Play 'Redneck Mother!"' So I'd play "Redneck Mother" and then I'd go, where's this other song I wrote? And they'd go, play "Redneck Mother" again! So it was difficult. But now I'll pull it out and do it because I've got other songs that are a little bit more valid.
Q: Can you do a show and get away with not playing it?
A: It depends on the room.
Q: When you got sober in the late ’80s, did you ever worry that you wouldn’t be able to tap into that creative vein without altering your mind in some way?
A: Yeah, it was a fear. I was very fortunate to have Stevie Ray Vaughn. He got sober and I said, "What's it like?" And he said once he got sober, he took off the boxing gloves and he could really play guitar. I said, "Nah, you could play guitar before; you put out all these albums." He said, no, once he got sober he could play, he could really play. And it's true. Once I got sober, the writing and everything, it was there and hopefully it improved.
Ray Wylie Hubbard. 8 p.m. May 13. Smith's Olde Bar. $15-$18.
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