Plan on coming to Conroe March 6th & 7th for the 3rd Annual Texas Independence Day Music Fest & Chili Cook-off . This is a celebration of ‘everything good in Texas’, including history, food, music, games, a Chili Cook-Off competition, reenactments, vendors and more. A first place cash prize of $2000 will be awarded in an “Almost Anything Goes” Chili Cook-Off! New to the 2010 cook-off are the “Best Beans” and “Super Salsa Divisions” with additional prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place. Compete in one division or all three. 

     This annual event is always scheduled for the first Saturday & Sunday in March. The music line-up this year includes Jubal Lee Young, Clay Melton, Dustin Welch, Bonnie Bishop, porterdavis, Candy Coburn, Cypress Station, The Gourds, Ray Wylie Hubbard and more! Attendees can register at the entrance gate for a chance to win door prizes that will be given away beginning at noon daily. Top prizes include gift certificates, a flat screen TV and cash. You must be present at the event to win. You can listen to KSTAR 99.7, KPFT 90.1 and Texas Mix 105.3 for chances to win tickets to the event.            

     Activities include music, a $2000-To-Win Chili Cook-Off, the Wolf Creek Pistolaros, a Western Town with gun fights, historical reenactments, fireworks, a children’s train ride, rock climbing walls, moonwalks, art, coloring and other activities. Daily adult tickets are only $7, and tickets for children over age 12 and senior’s tickets are $5.

     For more information, for sponsorship opportunities, to register as a vendor, or to compete in the Cook-off, go to www.TexasIndependenceDay.org

     Many have seen headliner Ray Wylie Hubbard perform or have listened to his music. Ray Wyle has just released his newest album, “A. Enlightenment B.Endarkenment (Hint: There is no c)” on Bordello records.

     When F. Scott Fitzgerald issued his classic conclusion that ‘There are no second acts in American lives,’ he failed to envision the career of legendary Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard. A willing conspirator in the late seventies Cosmic Cowboy revolt that ushered in the mythical Outlaw era, Hubbard was a catalyst in the cultural upheaval that led to the peaceful coexistence of Lone Star music enthusiasts who comprised each end of the social and political spectrum of that troubled time. In the stellar company of iconic colleagues like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Doug Sahm and Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard was an architect of the musical legacy that continues to inspire subsequent generations of up-and-coming Texas talent.

     It is no small irony that a songwriter of such proven depth and originality would come to acclaim through the unlikely ascent of a tongue-in-cheek parody like Hubbard’s anthemic “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mothers,” a key component in Walker ‘s landmark 1973 album Viva Terlingua. The song’s immediate success was a mixed blessing for Hubbard, who spent much of the decade following the song’s impact trapped in a Catch-22 of alcohol and drug abuse that was facilitated by just enough name recognition to perpetuate the gradual self-destruction that played itself out in the tired and lethal cliché of ‘living one’s art.’ 

     Absent from the recording scene for much of that time, Hubbard plied his trade in a honky-tonk haze that extracted a measurable toll on his physical and emotional health, enshrouded his artistic potential and confined his career to a survivalist track. Hubbard, who was born in Hugo, Oklahoma and raised in the Oak Cliff sector of Dallas , credits the late Stevie Ray Vaughan with influencing his decision to stop drinking on his birthday in 1987. “Stevie told me what I needed to do for recovery,” relates Hubbard. “A lot of people remember Stevie for his guitar playing, but I remember him because he saved my life.” 

     A working musician throughout his self-inflicted stint in professional purgatory, Hubbard held steadfastly to the hope afforded him by his robust character and deep inner well of humility and keen, raw humor. As the fog of addictive behavior lifted, Hubbard committed himself to improving his prowess on guitar and began to realize a renaissance of sorts in his songwriting. The often arduous journey of recovery, meted out ‘one day at a time’ has helped contribute to a songwriting canon comprised of some of the richest literary references and compelling melodic tapestries of any contemporary artist, in any genre of popular music.

     Ray Wylie Hubbard will play from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Texas Independence Day Festival on Saturday, March 7.

Music Schedule for Saturday, March 6:

Noon - 1 p.m. - Clay Melton

1:30 - 2:30 p.m. - to be announced

3:00 - 4:00 p.m. - Jubal Lee Young

4:30 - 5:30 p.m. - porterdavis

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Dustin Welch

7:30 - 8:30 - Bonnie Bishop

9:00 - 10:30 p.m. - Ray Wylie Hubbard

10:45 - Midnight - The Gourds