NPR Music

Support Public RadioLogin

Mountain Stage

Listen To The Show

Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage

Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Ray Wylie Hubbard On Mountain Stage

March 5, 2013 The Texas native, who wrote the jukebox anthem "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mothers," has remained highly in-demand as a producer, songwriter and performer. In this concert, he performs songs from his newest album, The Grifter's Hymnal.

Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard makes his 11th appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown. Hubbard first found success after writing "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mothers," which became a beer-joint jukebox anthem some 40 years before anyone thought about singing the praises of a Solo cup. A high-school classmate of Mountain Stage host Larry Groce, Hubbard even played with him in a band for a while.

"After two or three months, I think it was Larry's suggestion that we get instruments and learn to play them, because we were going nowhere," Hubbard says.

Since then, Hubbard has remained a highly in-demand producer, writer and performer, cultivating a style that's been described as one part Guy Clark and one part John Lee Hooker. Backed by Ron Sowell on guitar and harmonica and Ammed Solomon on drums, Hubbard plays lead guitar in a set that includes his latest anthem, "Snake Farm." His most recent release, The Grifter's Hymnal, has "a lot of your favorite songs on it," he says, "but of course, you won't know that unless you buy it."

This Mountain Stage performance was originally published on September 25, 2012.

Set List
  • "Rabbit"
  • "Count Your Blessings"
  • "Train Yard"
  • "Mother Blues"
  • "Snake Farm"
  • "The Messenger"

NPR thanks our sponsors

Become an NPR Sponsor

More Mountain Stage

More Mountain Stage
 

Please keep your community civil. All comments must follow the NPR.org Community rules and Terms of Use. NPR reserves the right to use the comments we receive, in whole or in part, and to use the commenter's name and location, in any medium. See also the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Community FAQ.

About Mountain Stage

For more than 25 years West Virginia's Mountain Stage has been giving radio audiences the best seat in the house for some of the world's most reknowned performers. Learn more.

Podcast + RSS Feeds

Podcast RSS

  • Concerts
     
  • Mountain Stage