Few names unite the spectrums of country, rock, and folk music quite like Ray Wylie Hubbard. Since Jerry Jeff Walker first covered his “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” more than 50 years ago, Hubbard has been name-dropped by artists from Eric Church and Hayes Carll to Blackberry Smoke and Cross Canadian Ragweed. He counts Ringo Starr among his friends. It’s a circle of respect and admiration that the 79-year-old Hubbard is quick to embrace.
“It’s gratifying in a way that validates — OK, yeah, I can write these songs,” Hubbard tells Rolling Stone.
Occasionally, too, it leads to some head-spinning moments for Hubbard. When Mike Campbell of the Dirty Knobs (and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) mentioned to Starr last year that he liked Hubbard’s writing, Starr gave him Hubbard’s number and said, “Call him!”
Hubbard was nearly finished recording Reel 2 Reel 4 Real — his first studio album since 2022, which dropped this month — at Johnathan Tyler’s studio in Texas. Hubbard’s band, including his son, Lucas, on guitar, had been joined by friends like keyboardist Bukka Allen and mandolin player Cody Braun in recording the LP. But when Campbell asked Hubbard to fly to Los Angeles and record some songs at his studio, it was a no-brainer.
“He says, ‘What are you doing?’ and I tell him I’m making a record,” Hubbard recalls. “He said, ‘Come out here and do a couple!’ So, Lucas and I flew out there, and we cut with Mike. It was really quite a thrill. Those are the last two songs on the album.”
Hubbard says Reel 2 Reel 4 Real — his 20th studio record — is likely the last album he will release. If that proves true, he will have capped his catalog with the roots-rock sound that has defined his career. Hubbard’s gravelly baritone is complemented by guitars and keys, with zero polish. After cutting songs with Tyler and Campbell, he turned to his friend and occasional producer Gurf Morlix (Slaid Cleaves, Robert Earl Keen) to mix the project.
“I’ve always liked records where it’s real guys really playing,” Hubbard says. “Like the first Buffalo Springfield, first Stones, you know? You could hear these guys. So, man, that’s the goal that we set. We wanted it to sound like those kind of old-school roots-rock records.
“As Gurf says, the way you make a roots record is, you take out the lip smacks and the coughs, but you leave in the stray noises, pedal squeaks,” Hubbard continues.
These days, Hubbard is an observational composer. “Songwriting, they say, is inspiration plus craft, right?” he says. The songs that make up Reel 2 Reel 4 Real are rooted in this approach. “She Plays Crazy Mama” was written on a whim after he listened to J.J. Cale’s “Crazy Mama” while recording with Campbell. (Cale’s widow, Christine Lakeland, appears on the track.)
“Cassette Mix Tape” — a song about a teenager stealing his father’s car and joyriding — was inspired by a storage-closet find.
“There was this old box up there, with all these cassettes,” he says, “and all of a sudden I looked and there were some mix tapes that I’d made — and a cassette mix tape that Bugs Henderson had made for me back in the Seventies, Eighties. I just remembered how important it was at that time to be able to make a cassette mix tape of songs that meant something to you. I got this story of this kid going out, and his buddy Jack saying, ‘I know a girl, and she’s not particular with who she gets it on with.’ That’s how that story came about. A nostalgia trip from when I was a young man.”
Such nostalgia comes to Hubbard frequently these days, as he’s pushing 80. Earlier this month, one of his closest friends and collaborators, Terry “Buffalo” Ware, died after a battle with lung cancer. Ware was washing dishes at a pizza joint when he met Hubbard in the early 1970s and Hubbard asked if he would like to play guitar for him. Ware quit the dishwashing job on the spot. He toured the U.S. and Europe with Hubbard and played on most of his albums in the ensuing three decades.
“We had some great adventures,” Hubbard says. “He was a stand-up guy, and he had a lot of compassion, you know? He liked to go down to the dog pound and adopt these dogs, just to do it. He was a remarkable friend.”
Casual fans know Hubbard best for “Redneck Mother” and 2006’s “Snake Farm,” both of which are frequent cover targets from up-and-comers and established artists alike, especially in Texas — Hubbard lives in Austin now. They are also staples of Hubbard’s live shows, which still happen regularly.
He says he’s too old to sustain coast-to-coast tours, but this fall he will hit Texas hard, adding in a pair of November shows at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley and a stop in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo. He’ll play “Redneck Mother” and “Snake Farm” with a smile. He’s just happy he’s not getting asked to play a sad ballad like “Feelings” every night.
“‘Redneck Mother’ fits in the arsenal now,” he says. “For a long period of time, that was the only thing I was known for, because Jerry Jeff did it and put my name on the album. I’d walk onstage, they’d go, ‘Play Redneck Mother!’ and I’d play it. I’d say, ‘Here’s another song I wrote,’ and they’d say, ‘Play ‘Redneck Mother’ again!’ Now, I can have fun with it. With ‘Redneck Mother’ and ‘Snake Farm,’ I don’t have to be sincere about this.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose upcoming book, Sonoran Sounds, is set for release in March 2027 via Back Lounge Publishing.
