I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt

Ray Wylie Hubbard

ray wylie Hubbard New Mexico ain’t bad, Lord, the people there they treat you kind White freightliner, won’t you steal away my mind —TVZ, “White Freightliner Blues,” from The Nashville Sessions r ay Wylie Hubbard, born November 13, 1946, in Soper, Oklahoma ,initiallygainedwidespreadrecognitionasthesongwriter behind the Jerry Jeff Walker hit “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” from Walker’s groundbreaking 1973 album ¡Viva Terlingua! Ray Wylie Hubbard, Long Center, Austin, TX, September 19, 2010 20 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG Hubbard’s trademark tune crackles with wry observations based on a real-life experience of trying to buy beer at the D-Bar-D bar in Red River, New Mexico, from an Oklahoma-born woman who disapproved of his scruffy appearance. Later featured on his Off the Wall (1978) and Live at Cibolo Creek Country Club (2000) albums, “Redneck Mother” came to be oneofthebestknownsongsoftheentire1970sprogressivecountryera.1 Hubbard,alongtimeWimberley,Texas,resident,continuestowritewith a dry wit and a sharp pen and remains one of the most prolific songwriters in the Lone Star State.2 As a pioneering figure in Texas’ progressive country movement, Hubbard’s early major-label albums Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Cowboy Twinkies (1975) and Off the Wall fortified his reputation as a freewheeling spirit who served as a rowdy precursor to Robert Earl Keen’s declaration a decade later that “the road goes on forever, and the party never ends.”3 Duringthistime,HubbardoftenperformedwithLoneStarlegendWillie Nelson and helped inspire a new generation of songwriters, including Pat Green, Randy Rogers, and Casey Donahew, to write about a lifestyle thatcelebratesSaturdaynightrevelryratherthanSundaymorningregret.4 Hubbard’sexcessiveuseofalcoholanddrugsduringthoseearlyyears eventually crippled his creativity, and his 1984 album title Caught in the Act hinted at a new direction in his personal life and professional career. Hubbard got sober on his forty-first birthday. In fact, he met his second (andcurrent)wifeandmanager,JudyStone,atanAlcoholicsAnonymous meeting.“Ipreferspiritualawakeningtoreligiousconversion,”Hubbard says of his decision to rehabilitate himself. “There are certain spiritual principlesthatItrytofollow,andIbelievetherearecertainspirituallaws in the universe.”5 Accordingly, sobriety and spirituality played a key role in Hubbard’s evolution as a songwriter. He also focused on improving his abilities as a performer. Legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who also struggled with alcohol and drugs, worked with Hubbard to strengthen his guitar skills. “Stevie Ray was the first guy that I had ever met who’d gotten sober who hadn’t turned into a square,” Hubbard says. “He still rAy wylIe HuBBArD 21 had this edge and coolness. Stevie Ray said that once he got sober, it was like he took off the boxing gloves and he could really play the guitar.”6 Hubbard’s mystical Hill Country blues enliven later albums such as Growl (2003), Delirium Tremolos (2005), and Snake Farm (2006), directly echoing the Texas songwriters and guitarists that Townes Van Zandt most revered, such as Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb. In turn, HubbardadmiredVanZandt’snovelisticeye.“Towneswouldwritethese incredible songs, but he understood the craft of it,” Hubbard says. “He had the rare combination of inspiration plus craft.”7 Ray Wylie Hubbard’s most recent album, 2010’s metaphysical meditation , A: Enlightenment, B: Endarkenment, Hint: There Is No C, well suits Austin’s Cactus Café, the intimate University of Texas listening room where he witnessed many Van Zandt concerts. Today Hubbard advises and collaborates with several up-and-coming Texas artists such as Cody Canada, Randy Rogers, and The Trishas. On his latest album, Hubbard cowrote“DrunkenPoet’sDream”withHouston-areanativeHayesCarll, who had recorded a version “about 60 percent the same” on his 2008 album Trouble in Mind. “I’m such a big fan of Ray as a person and as a songwriter,” Carll says. “In my perfect world, Ray Wylie Hubbard would be winning Grammys.”8 • • • ray wylie Hubbard OneofthefirsttimesIeverreallyrememberTowneswasinthelate1960s or very early 1970s when Jerry Jeff Walker was playing in Nashville, Tennessee .ItwaskindofJerry’sbigdebutthere,butIdon’trememberwhere it was. Everybody showed up, and Townes was there. Of course, we were all drinking, and Jerry was out front playing. Townes bet me $100 that he’d go onstage and stand on his head for the whole song while Jerry did “Mr.Bojangles.”IbetTownesthe$100.Jerrystartedplaying“Bojangles,” and Townes went out there and stood on his head the whole time. That was the last time I gambled with him. 22 I’ll Be Here In THe MornInG Earlier on, back in the 1970s, he was really witty, sharp, and funny. He had a certain charisma about him. Later, you know, he...