I love the tongue-in-cheek lyrics to this tune.  While thumbing your nose at the Nashville establishment and organized religion you also bare your soul for us and end it with gratitude for your son.  How were you able to draw so many different things together and make it work? 

-Chip

Chip,

i was reading the divine comedy by dante and loved the way he used irony to mock the establishment during his time. i just took that idea and had these lines i had had heard or thought were kinna clever: the devils solo being better that the kids, buddha was not a christian, cocaine-smell, and i heard judy say the line about 'some get sprittual because they see the light..' and i knew that had to be the last line on the song since it was so strong. it was kind of connect the dots after that..setting up the last line and then figuring how to get there. took about 3 days or so to finish it. i originally recorded with a band (lloyd maines, stephen bruton) but it wasn't a rock song..it was a folk song so i redid it with just 2 acoustic guitars, one take, no overdubs. i still do it but i rarely to the reincarnation verse for some reason i have forgotten, so maybe i'll relearn it.

-ray

Ray,

I'm sure there is some deep emotion and inspiration for "Wasp Nest". Please tell me it's not just from you laying around with a guitar in your hand on the lounge chair on your screened in back porch worrying about getting stung by the wasp crawling through the hole in the  screen door?

Burns like a rightous hellfire, indeed!
Steve

Steve,

well, yep. that's about it. the deep emotion is apathy till stung and the inspiration was when i was a kid the way my grandma would fix a tear in the screen door was with a hairpin. then one day "there's a wasp. hope it don't come through..whoops, its though the hole and in the house.' then it was" hey, baby can you fix this hole?" and then after ma hubbard stuck a hairpin in it, i sat down in open g tuning and sang what just happened. not as dark as dust of the chase but it is fun to play.

-ray wylie

I hope you can answer a a question for me about the bridge on the song, Dallas After Midnight?

I've listened to this wonderful  song for many years but have never been able to figure out how, "Now there ain't nothing that I like better than driving on hard concrete........." fits into the song.  It almost feels like it is a catchy phrase from a different song the Mr. Hubbard fit in because he felt the song needed a bridge.

Any ideas?

thanks,
rick

ah rick, you are right. that was back when i thought a song needed a
bridge. i outgrew that phase. i'm writing songs now that not only do they
not change chords, they don't even rhyme (rabbit). ya caught me. wont let
it happen again. r

Just wondering if "Airplane Fell Down in Dixie" was about Lynard Skynard.

Rick,

yep. it is. rock stars and plane crashes just kept crossing my mind. i was actually going to see ricky nelson play in dallas new years eve in 85 when i heard the news his plane had crashed. i had met ricky in taos, n.m.  and some of the skynard crew in dallas at one time so having shared a few moments  with them however briefly and realizing they were gone from this world forever was a devastating thought.  later on i had  learned to play slide and to use open tunings and that seemed to capture the feeling more than just strumming the guitar so it seemed the craft triggered  the inspiration.  they both did rock and i was indeed fortunate  to have met them. . rwh

I love the song There are Some Days.  I have often wondered what was the state of mind with Mr. Hubbard to produce such powerful lyrics.  I guess by state of mind I mean what was going on during that period?

Love the music

Jon Howard

Dear Jon,

i had a friend who was going through a hard time. his compass pointed to blackness and depression in all four directions as well as up and down and even to his inside.  i was reminded of a period in my own life when darkness had swooped down on me and had me surrounded and there  seemed to be no sunlight available.. i got throught it and looking back on that time, the line came to me that there were some day i just wanted to cry but there were some ways i used to get by: getting out of my own self and seeing what i could do to help others that were having a rough go of it seemed to do the trick. i picked up an old martin and began to play these country blues licks in the key of c and  these ghosts appeared  " not wanting to remember but i can't forget" and then  i sang the lines for the chorus . the second verse was seeing these other people who had a belief system that worked for them but i didn't think it would work for me. in the last verse the angel who's wings are torn aknowledges the solution by saying"well, you're not the only one bleeding here so quit being self absorbed and see what you can contribute rather than what you can get. quit feeling sorry for yourself and help others who are hurting ,"  misery is an option,you know. so i wrote the song for my friend to show him what had worked for me. he began to help drug addicks and drunks in ann arbor michigan and became a buddhist and is married to a cool woman and walks in the sunshine of the spirit now days.  there you go.

-ray wylie