Ray Wylie Hubbard throws his 80th birthday party at Gruene Hall

Cody Canada, Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen join Hubbard in New Braunfels next Friday, three months after his 20th album, the tape-cut Reel 2 Reel 4 Real.

A week from tonight, Gruene Hall throws a birthday party, and the man of the hour is bringing friends. Ray Wylie Hubbard & Friends: 80th Birthday Celebration takes over the New Braunfels hall on Friday, Nov. 13. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the music starts at 8.

The friends in the title are Cody Canada, Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen. Gruene Hall's own listing puts tickets at $59.50. The room holds about 800, so a birthday bill this stacked is not one to leave until the day of.

For San Antonio-area fans this one is close to home. Hubbard has played this market more than any other in our records, 37 shows and counting. Plenty of people around here have seen him more than once. Next Friday is a good excuse to go again.

Hubbard isn't treating 80 as a finish line, either. In August he put out Reel 2 Reel 4 Real, his 20th album. It arrived Aug. 21 and caps a recording career that, as Saving Country Music notes, goes back to the mid-'70s. It also follows a two-album run on Nashville's Big Machine Records.

The title is literal. According to Hubbard's official site, the musicians recorded straight to tape. Jonathan Tyler produced most of the record at his studio in Austin, with Hubbard's road band and his son Lucas, plus guests including Cody Braun of Reckless Kelly. It runs ten songs. "Cassette Mix Tape" was the lead single and "Dog or Wolf" came after it.

That analog, band-in-a-room approach suits a room like Gruene Hall. It's an old dance hall, not a theater, and a songwriter who still wants his records cut live to tape belongs in a place where the band and the crowd share the same floor.

Expect the night to work like a family reunion more than a tribute show: a headliner playing his own songs at full strength, with friends taking turns at the microphone. Who sings what, and whether the new songs share the night with the old ones, is Hubbard's call. With the album fresh and three guests on the bill, there's room for both.

Get there for doors, find your spot on the floor, and raise one to a guy who is still making records at 80, and still wants to celebrate his birthday by playing them.

Sources: Gruene Hall – Ray Wylie Hubbard & Friends: 80th Birthday Celebration (gruenetexas.com); Saving Country Music – Ray Wylie Hubbard Details Upcoming New Album “Reel 2 Reel 4 Real” (savingcountrymusic.com); Grateful Web – Ray Wylie Hubbard Releases New Album Reel 2 Reel 4 Real (gratefulweb.com); Music Mecca – At Nearly 80, Ray Wylie Hubbard To Release 20th Album ‘Reel 2 Reel 4 Real’ This August (musicmecca.org); JamBase – Ray Wylie Hubbard at Gruene Hall (jambase.com); Gruene Hall - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)