Major opportunities
Ray Wylie Hubbard's new album `Co-starring' features Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Ashley McBryde and more
He may be a septuagenarian, but Ray Wylie Hubbard is still finding plenty of firsts to achieve.
After making his Grand Ole Opry debut a year ago, the Oklahoma-Texas music icon this summer is releasing his first major-label album, titled “Co-Starring.” Due out Friday, his 17th studio album — and first on Big Machine Records — features a wide range of collaborators, including a Beatle, an Eagle and a Black Crowe.
“When I did the Opry last year, somebody said, `Man, 72 years old, isn't that kind of old to be making your debut at the Grand Ole Opry?' And I said, `Man, I didn't want to peak too soon.' I've still got stuff to do,” said Hubbard, now 73, in a phone interview from his Texas home.
Although he has been making music since the 1970s as one of the Lone Star State's original musical outlaws, the Hugo native is still penning songs, recording albums and, with the coronavirus pandemic, figuring out new technologies. With concerts halted due to COVID-19, he is playing his album release party at 8 p.m. Friday via Facebook Live from The Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas.
“With this COVID thing, we're not being able to get out and perform and play and be on stage and everything. ... But I enjoy the performing live with an audience,” Hubbard said.
“I'm still learning. ... About two weeks ago, I got on Zoom and wrote a song with Randy Rogers. So, it is a pretty interesting time. ... But I think it comes back down to still trying to keep an attitude of gratitude.”
Oklahoma upbringing
Hubbard grew up near Hugo in the hamlet of Soper.
“Hugo was known as Circustown USA where a lot of these circuses made their winter home. One of my granddads had a farm outside there, and during the winter, he would lease his land to the circus. So as a kid, I'd look out there and there'd be a camel walking around. ... I loved growing up, up there,” Hubbard said.
“When I was little, (my dad) didn't really read `The Three Little Pigs' to me. He would read `The Raven.' He got me into literature very early.”
Hubbard has become a sort of underground legend in roots music, with occasional mainstream triumphs, from a 2013 appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” to his Top 10 2018 duet “Desperate Man” with country superstar Eric Church. He credited his wife Judy for his success as an independent artist.
“I feel very fortunate that I sleep with the president of my publishing company. ... She handles all that. She says, `You write whatever you want to write. You make the records you want to make, and I'll try to sell the damn things,'” he said. “I feel very grateful and fortunate that I can just kind of write about anything and make a funky record.”
Star-studded collaborators
For “Co-Starring,” Hubbard made funky music with former Tulsan Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn, Ringo Starr of The Beatles, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Don Was of Was (Not Was) and country stars Ashley McBryde and Pam Tillis. Along with lending her voice to two tracks, Tillis helped Hubbard make his Opry debut, following a chance meeting at the Nashville, Tennessee, airport.
“I was getting ready to get on a plane, and all the sudden I heard this voice behind me go, `Ray Wylie.' I turn around and she goes ... `I recognized the back of your head.' So, I guess there's benefits to cutting your own hair,” he said with a chuckle. “We actually wrote a couple of songs together, and she came down to Texas. ... She asked, `Have you ever done the Opry?' And I said, `No, I never have.' She said, `Well, I'm gonna talk to them about it.' About a week later, I get this phone call that said, `We overlooked you for some reason. Would you consider being on the Opry?' ... It really was a thrill.”
His new album's leadoff single, “Bad Trick,” came together with similar serendipity.
“About two years ago, I was in Santa Fe, my wife and I went to see Ringo and the All-Starrs. We were backstage talking, and he said, `What are you doing?' And I said, `Well, I'm getting ready to make a new record,' and he said, `Well, if you need a drummer let me know.' I thought he was just kind of kidding. But then I had this song called `Bad Trick,' and it just had a groove to it. So, I sent it to a fellow called Brent Carpenter, who does all of his videos ... and he said, `I'll take it to him to see.' So, then I got this text, and it said, `Be in L.A. next Wednesday at 2 o'clock and I'll play drums on that track.' So, I flew out on Monday and went to his house — he has a little studio there — and it was just me and a guitar and him. And he played drums,” Hubbard said.
“Then, Ringo asked Don Was and Joe Walsh to play on it, and I don't think anybody could say no to Ringo, so they did. Then, I ran into Chris Robinson, and I said, `Hey man, would you sing on this?' and he said, `Sure.'”
While attending a Nashville event with his son and bandmate Lucas, he chatted with Julian Raymond of Big Machine Records.
“I said, `Well, I made this record. ... I've got a Beatle, an Eagle, a Crowe and a Was (Not Was) on it.' And he said, `I'd like to hear that,' so I lent him a track. All the sudden, I get this call and he said, `Man, I played that for (Big Machine CEO) Scott Borchetta, and he'd like to talk to you about a deal,'” Hubbard said.
“The whole album just kind of fell into place, and I hadn't really planned on anything. I just kind of did the tracks with friends and let it develop. I kind of got out of the way of it.”