Ray Wiley Hubbard may just be the coolest cat in country, folk, rock-n-roll, and whichever or whatever other music genre-boxes you might put him into. (He’ll play around and escape from them all!) I know because I read it and I believe it because they said it: 67 of his colorful colleagues, compatriots, cohorts, friends and family members; disciples that preach the gospel of R.W. Hubbard (no relation to L. Ron!) and bear witness to the man’s exemplary Life/Music/Love (a holy trinity) and the impacts he’s had, impressions he’s made and insights he’s shared that continue to inform and inspire their own lives, songs and loves.

Author (and photographer) Brian T. Atkinson arranged and conducted insightful, enlightening interviews with a coterie of “Character Witnesses” to create this novel, engrossing, wildly entertaining tome. Cleverly divided into “musical sections” (verses/chorus/bridge) named after Hubbard songs, each “chapter” opens with some of Ray’s own wily words of wisdom followed by illuminating commentaries of praise and worship from acolytes including Eric Church, Paul Thorn and Mary Gauthier. Troy Campbell, Walt Wilkins and Jack Ingram give standout testimonies and the Gospel according to Kinky Friedman is peerless! Wife and manager Judy Hubbard’s telling of their true love story and Ray’s career journey is concise, precise and delightful. Mike Peters of The Alarm provides a cool “Coda” too.

Alluring forwards by Hayes Carll and Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray’s playful yet profound prologue and Atkinson’s inviting introduction form the book’s genesis and provide a perfect prelude to Verse One “Redneck Mother.” In the beginning there was Jerry Jeff Walker’s 1973 “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother” live “gonzo country” cover version (that christened Ray “Wylie”) of what would become and remain its creator’s signature calling card, mega-hit/must-do/go-to demandatory anthem and obligatory encore. Hubbard’s “Mother”-less arrival on vinyl came in 1975 with The Cowboy Twinkies and he’d later release his own “Redneck Mother” twice! First on his second studio album Off The Wall in 1978 and then live as “(The Last Recording Of) Redneck Mother (Ever)” on his third LP Something About The Night in 1979.

By 1984 the hard-livin’, heavy-drinkin’, pill-poppin’, coke-snortin’, rootin’-tootin’ singer-songwriter had careened, crashed, burned out and hit country-rock bottom. But he miraculously rose from those ashes and sobered up “cold turkey” on his 41st birthday November 13, 1987. Once resurrected and revived, Ray reinvented himself to reclaim, reconstruct and restart both his life and career anew, transforming from that injured mess into “The Messenger” for his 1992 comeback confirmation album Lost Train Of Thought.

While acknowledging Hubbard’s ignoble Old Testament history B.C. (“Before Cleanup”), Atkinson’s New Testament magnifies brother Ray’s acts, collaborations, inspirations and revelations since his rebirth A.D. (“After Detox”) nearly thirty-three years ago. Every interviewee is briefly bio-ed in the back pages along with informative notes. Nearly all devotees are also shown and identified in b&w photographs of varying quality. My favorite shows a trim, bespectacled Steve Earle wearing a “BUSH SUCKS” T-shirt live at Red Rocks in 2004.

The Hubbard canon includes Dangerous Spirits (1997), 2010’s A: Enlightenment, B: Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C), The Grifter’s Hymnal (2012) and Tell The Devil I’m Getting There As Fast As I Can”(2017) which contain songs named “Freeway Church Of Christ,” “Conversation With The Devil,”  “This Morning I Am Born Again,”  “Barefoot In Heaven,”  “New Year’s Eve At The Gates Of Hell” or simply “Resurrection,”  “Preacher,”  “Lazarus,”  “Prayer” and “Ask God.” Those titles alone lead me to truly believe that Ray may be my kind of spiritual sage and making my kind of  FUNdamental Christian Music.” Amen?

I may be just one of “a bunch of goobers with guitars” but now I’m also a man with a mission. Having read this good book I am compelled to go, seek and find, search and discover then watch and listen to lots of Ray Wylie Hubbard songs! (Starting with “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother” then “Snake Farm” then “Drunken Poet’s Dream” and then…?) I can hardly wait to see and hear, to know and love and to be moved and inspired by the mystical, mythical man’s music myself. Perhaps one fine day I’ll even make a pilgrimage to the promised land in Texas to experience The Messenger himself “live” and in the flesh. Amen!

—Dennis McDoNoUgh