Ames Progressive

In his youth, Hubler said he turned down what might have been an opportunity to become a rock star. When he moved to California with his parents in 1961, he met the Love brothers of Beach Boys fame at a Los Angeles church where his father was a minister. When their bassist fell ill, Hubler stood in on a New Year’s Eve gig and went on to play another dozen or so sets with Brian Wilson’s band. “My son never wants me to tell this story,” Hubler joked, “because I said, ‘You guys, your music is great out here in California and you’ve got an interesting beat and you’re kind of an interesting phenomenon, but it’s not my kind of music and I’m going to go back to college.’ ” But he insists he made the right choice: “Being a rock star doesn’t really address the kinds of issues that I’m interested in and frankly doesn’t get to the individual person in a way in which my talents and my gifts are useful.”

So what is Hubler’s kind of music? “I’m a rock and roller out of the Sixties. You know, Bob Dylan and Harry Chapin and those folks are the people that I like to listen to, and the words are very important, and the message is very important, and that’s the kind of music. I’m also kind of a jazz fan.”