Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on June 3, 2012.

It was a sell-out Grand Opening show featuring the music of Ray Wylie Hubbard last Sunday (May 23) at Epperly Mill. Built in 1901 by John Epperly and his family, the Mill has been restored by owners Adam and Marcie Morrison and transformed into a one-of-a-kind, creek-side venue for family reunions, live music concerts and Airbnb lodging.

Although the Mill has been providing lodging for a couple of years now, this was the couple’s first live music event.  “It’s been a long work in progress, and we hadn’t been ready to present a show till last year, and then the pandemic happened,” said Marcie Morrison who is an acupuncturist that works out of North Side Plaza in town, along with being an innkeeper.

It was an outdoor show with temperatures taken at check in. Audience members spread out in lawn chairs on the grass along Dodd Creek enjoying food from Adam Morrison’s catering business, Two Trees, and drinks served by the Floyd Center for the Arts as a center fundraiser. Many attendees were followers of Hubbard’s music and others were soon-to-be fans.

A group of eight from Bella La Vita Inn sat together on a small grassy hill with a good view of the stage. “They originally came for Tour de Floyd (cycling event). They knew it was cancelled but came anyways. They come every year,” said innkeeper Lisal Kayati Roberts. Four of the Bella La Vita guests were from Pennsylvania and a couple was from Charleston. Most of them are Floydfest regulars who stay at the Inn during the festival every year, Roberts said.

Another couple, Denny Koontz and John Hormell, are from Arkansas but came to the show by way of Asheville where they attended conference. “I’ve known Adam for 7 or 8 years from bike trips that he’s catered,” said Koontz.  “I love it!” she said about The Mill and the intimate concert setting.

Marcie Morrison welcomed guests and Adam Morrison and Sean Matuk opened the show playing Morrison’s original music. “I wrote this in the middle of a pandemic,” said Morrison about one of his songs. He spoke of the Mill’s history in between songs.

Cheers arose as Hubbard came on stage, accompanied by his son Lucas Hubbard on lead guitar and drummer Kyle Snyder. Born in Oklahoma and raised in Oklahoma and Texas, Hubbard is a masterful songwriter, a storyteller, a poet, an irreverent humorist and an outlaw country rocker who brings to mind “Arlo Guthrie meets Willie Nelson.”

After singing a couple of songs, one about a snake farm, Hubbard addressed the audience. “This is the first time that a number of you have appeared before me. I would imagine after the first two songs you’re a little nervous wondering what the refund policy is. There is none. I’ve written these songs. I talk about them and I sing them,” said the unapologetic, self-depreciating troubadour.

Hubbard called Adam Morrison on stage for “Bad Trick,” a song from his newest album, “Co-staring.” “You’ve got to have some scars if you wanna be a poet / To get weeds out of a garden, you’ve got to hoe it / Possession with intent will get you five to ten / And everybody turns a bad trick now and then…” The album recording features guest performances by Ringo Starr, Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, Joe Walsh form The Eagles and bassist Don Was.

The audience sang along enthusiastically when Hubbard performed his fan favorite “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” a Honkey Tonk anthem that became famous when Jerry Jeff Walker covered it and put Hubbard on the music radar in the ‘70s.

Hubbard sang a touching song inspired by the death of Tom Petty, titled “Rock Gods,” and a couple of tunes from his album “Tell the Devil I’m Getting’ There as Fast as I Can.” He joked to the audience about why he named another album “A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C).” “Because it’s better to burn down the barn than take out the trash,” he joked. ___________Colleen Redman