That’s one way to do it… Ray Wylie Hubbard is a legend in the country scene, and was a big part of the outlaw country movement in the ’70s, which was led by his friends Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, as well as Jerry Jeff Walker and Bobby Bare. Of course, his signature song “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother” became a hit in the 70’s and the rest, as they say, is history. Of course, he never became a huge commercial success, but to this day is a respected songwriter with a cult following. More recently, he’s written songs for the likes of Whiskey Myers, Hayes Carll and Eric Church. He’s been around for a long time, and has so many great stories about knowing Willie in his prime, and he told one during an appearance on the Drifting Cowboy podcast that is SO on-brand for Willie and his wild crew back then. Of course, it involves his best friend, right-hand man and drummer Paul English, as well as his tour manager Pootie Locke and Michael Gene Schroeder. Ray recalled his phone ringing at 3 o’clock in the morning, and it was Paul calling to be let into his place. He was not interested in hanging out at that time, but after a lot of insisting, he gave in. They wanted him to come with them to a beer fest in Milwaukee, though Wiley already had other plans. He was supposed to take a girl he was “trying to sleep with,” who loved The Eagles, to a concert because he felt he was guaranteed to get lucky if he did: “It’s about 3 o’clock in the morning, and it starts buzzing. So I go up, and was I probably awake, I go, ‘Who is it?’ And the voice goes, ‘It’s Paul English with Pootie Locke and and Michael Gene Schroeder. Let us in.’ I’m going, I’m not gonna let you in.’ They go, ‘Come on, man. Let us in.’ I go, ‘No.’ And they go, ‘Come on.’ So against my better judgement, I let them in. So they get up, and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’re gonna meet Willie out in Garland on the Time 2,’ that was his first bus. ‘We’re going to Milwaukee to a beer fest. Come on with us.’ And I said, ‘Man, I can’t, I got tickets to The Eagles, and this girl I’m trying to sleep with loves The Eagles, and so if I take her to The Eagles, it’s guaranteed.’ And they go, ‘Oh, man you don’t wanna go see The Eagles. They sound just like their records.'” Well, they just wouldn’t take no for an answer, and so they decided to kidnap him… dragged him out of there. “So anyhow, about 6:00 that morning, Pootie and Michael Gene picked me up and carried me down the stairs. And put Reynolds, my roommate guy, comes up and gives me a toothbrush and a leather jacket. And we go out there to Garland, We get on this bus, next thing I know we take off. And I go, ‘Wait a minute, no.’ So anyhow, they came up and put a pillow case over my head and start blowing smoke in it. So about next stop, we made, Little Rock or somewhere, maybe Memphis, I get off, I gotta call the girl and say, ‘Hey, I’m not gonna be able to take you to The Eagles tonight.’ She goes, ‘Where are the tickets?’ ‘They’re upstairs.’ I’m gonna go get ’em.’ So I  never heard from her again…” The life of a country star, amirite… On the route back, he realized his friend Jerry Jeff Walker was playing at a stop on the way, and demanded to be let out there to hang out with him, and this time, they followed his wishes: “But anyhow, so we went to Milwaukee, to a beer fest, and then it’s so weird, we were coming back from somewhere, Chicago, I don’t know where Milwaukee is… they were trying to mess with me a lot, but Jerry Jeff Walker was somewhere, I said, ‘Let me off here. I’m gonna go hang out with Jerry Jeff.” Who else on Earth can say they got kidnapped by Willie Nelson’s band? Honestly, Paul English was not one you could really say no to, so I give him props for trying… but what a story. Check it out: @dillon.weldon Willie Nelson’s band kidnapped Ray Wylie Hubbard! #willienelson #raywyliehubbard #funny #countrymusic #foryou #fyp ♬ Snake Farm – Ray Wylie Hubbard The post Ray Wylie Hubbard Tells Wild Story About Willie Nelson’s Band Kidnapping Him To Go To Milwaukee: “Put A Pillowcase Over My Head” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.