Ray Wylie Hubbard

Soundtrack

Birthday November 13, 1946

Birth Sign Scorpio

Birthplace Soper, Oklahoma, U.S.

Age 77 years old

Nationality United States

#45942 Most Popular

1946

Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter.

Hubbard was born on November 13, 1946, in Soper, Oklahoma.

1954

His family moved to Oak Cliff in southwest Dallas, Texas, in 1954.

He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey.

1965

Hubbard graduated in 1965 and enrolled in North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) as an English major.

He spent the summers in Red River, New Mexico, playing folk music in hootenannies with a trio known as Three Faces West.

1973

During his time in New Mexico, Hubbard wrote "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother" first made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker's 1973 recording, and covered by a wide variety of other artists since.

Bolstered by the success of the song, he was signed by Warner Bros. Records.

1976

Hubbard then assembled a band of friends and locals and, in 1976, released Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Cowboy Twinkies. Unbeknownst to Hubbard, producer Michael Brovsky had decided to "Nashville-ize" the sound by adding overdub mixes and female backup singers to the recordings.

The result was "a botched sound" that Hubbard disapproved of vehemently, but the album was released despite his attempts to block it.

Hubbard then recorded albums for various other labels for the next decade, but struggled with the sales of his mix of country, folk and blues.

1980

The last album he recorded in the 1980s was Caught in the Act (1984) on his newly formed Misery Loves Company record label.

1990

He returned to recording in the early 1990s, and released his album Lost Train of Thought in 1992, followed by Loco Gringo's Lament in 1994.

Eventually a steady following began to re-discover Hubbard's music and he has been recording steadily since.

2017

He describes his 2017 album Tell the Devil I'm Getting There as Fast as I Can as rock & roll, though his style has become associated with outlaw country.