Ray Wylie Hubbard, Janet Johnson, and Blue Canoe on Saturday, July 10th at the Bing Crosby Theater
Spokane’s Blue Canoe got the evening rolling with fun songs that had the audience clapping. They played “My Mistake,” “Have Love Will Travel,” and even songs they love and have never played live like “Ring of Fire.” You could tell they loved playing music and that they were having fun on stage. At the end of their set they put smiles on everyone’s faces with “Viva Las Vegas.” We were also excited to see Blue Canoe play the bass player is Bob from local record store 4,000 Holes.
Janet Johnson took the stage next and opened with some very quick Mandolin plucking. Janet and her friend Charles played a few songs for us and their set sounded very clear. The mandolin is such a cool instrument it was fun to see someone focus on it. Janet played some of her songs like “Offspring,” “Cyberspace Man,” and “Rising River;” she also managed to sneak in a song by her favorite artist Bruce Cockburn.
Last but not least was the Texas Troubadour Mr. Ray Wylie Hubbard. As Matt said “…he was a great story teller like Grandpa, but an even better storyteller in his lyrics.” Ray would have a story for almost every song and each one was so interesting and a lot of them very funny. He had me laughing most of the show. On stage with him was his sixteen or seventeen year old son Lucas and on percussion Rick Richards. He opened with a song about counting his blessings and one of those blessings was being at the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane. Ray Wylie Hubbard played a lot of songs for us tonight; he played “Rabbit,” “Snake Farm,” “Without Love,” “Redneck Mother,” a little country blues with the help from his son and many many others.
We learned that if you want the commitment that Ray Wylie Hubbard has with his songwriting and music, you should never learn anything else. Or as he put it don’t go to college just in case this music thing doesn’t work out as your parents would say. He will also play your wedding (maybe) for $100 and a good meal. Ray also told us his new album cover is creepy and dark because, “you get more attention when you burn down the barn then when you take out the trash.” The Bing Crosby Theater is so beautiful he felt like he had to tell the truth and that he was glad to be here. We got to sing along a few times, it wasn’t exactly Kumbaya, however he said instead of buying his merch we should all buy a metronome and some singing lessons. Ray Wylie Hubbard is an extremely talented musician and a song writer. It was a treat to see him in Spokane in the beautiful Bing Crosby Theater.
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.
