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| Photo Credit: Todd Wolfson |
Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946 in Soper, Oklahoma) is a Texas Country singer and songwriter.
Hubbard grew up in town of Hugo, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in south Dallas, Texas in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey, who had his own band at the time. Hubbard graduated in 1965 and enrolled in college, at the University of North Texas, as an English major. He spent the summers in Red River, New Mexico playing folk music.
During his time in New Mexico, Hubbard wrote "Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother", made famous by Jerry Jeff Walker's 1973 recording. Bolstered by the success of the song, he was signed by Warner Bros. Records. Hubbard then put together a band of friends and locals and in 1976 released Ray Wylie Hubbard & The Cowboy Twinkies. Unbeknownst to Hubbard, producer Michael Brovsky had decided to "Nashville-ize" the sound by adding overdub mixes and female backup singers to the recordings. The result was "a botched sound" that Hubbard disapproved of vehemently, but the album was released despite his attempts to block it.
Hubbard then recorded albums for various other labels for the next 10 years but struggled with sales; his mix of country, folk and blues elements did not find an audience. Although he recorded several albums, by 1985 he left the music scene after struggling with personal problems. His last album was 1984's Caught In The Act on his newly formed Misery Loves Company record label.
He returned to recording in the early 1990s, and released his album Lost Train Of Thought in 1991, followed by Loco Gringo's Lament in 1994. Eventually a steady following began to re-discover Hubbard's music and he has been recording steadily since. His guitar technique uses a strumming by the left (fretting) hand that is very old, but not frequently seen in double time without changing right hand beat.
He describes his 2017 album Tell The Devil I'm Getting There As Fast As I Can as rock & roll, though his style has become associated with outlaw country, which he makes fun of in the song "Lucifer And The Fallen Angels" singing, "Why go to Nashville knowing you never, ever gonna be mainstream? It’s better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."
01 - [1975] Ray Wylie Hubbard & The Cowboy Twinkies
01 - West Texas Country Western Dance Band
02 - Portales
03 - $60 Ford
04 - Bordertown Girl
05 - The Lovin' Of The Game
06 - Compromise
07 - Blackeyed Peas
08 - Jazzbo Dancer
09 - He's The One (Who Made Me #2)
10 - Belly Of Texas
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02 - [1978] Off The Wall
Ray Wylie Hubbard established himself as a different and braver kind of country artist with his great song "Redneck Mother." Not only did he make fun of rednecks, he made fun of their mothers as well. He even managed to irritate the normally calm Merle Haggard by appropriating a line from "Okie From Muskogee." Although the latter song had been delivered tongue in cheek to begin with, Hubbard's song can be considered something of an answer to the right-wing sentiments expressed by the narrator of the Haggard ditty. So Hubbard arrived with a splash, but the relative lack of impact he had on the country scene since then might have something to do with his inconsistency.
The listener who has enjoyed the redneck song, which needless to say kicks off the first side of this debut Hubbard album, will immediately come face to face with Hubbard's failings as he launches into the pretentious, whining "What a Way to Go." This song represents something of an innovative fusion, although maybe not one anyone is interested in hearing: the combination of country & western and Meatloaf.
Next up is some standard white boy Texas blues, kind of like Delbert McLinton with a headache. But it isn't a one-hit album by any means. The Tony Joe White cover boogies along nicely and can be added to the Saturday night "rock out" radio play list. And the edgy lyrics that made Hubbard so interesting in the first place are back on "Freeway Church of Christ."
The many and varied instrumentalists that came together for these sessions really shore up the music at times when the lyrics and Hubbard's dull voice don't have much to offer. Steel guitar player Larry White plays incredible licks, some of them on the worst songs.
01 - Redneck Mother
02 - What A Way To Go
03 - Bittersweet Funky Tuesday
04 - Prairie Madness
05 - Saturday Night
06 - Gypsies Got The Right To Steal
07 - Hearts Are Absent Tonight
08 - Radio Song
09 - Mexico Bar
10 - Freeway Church Of Christ
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03 - [1979] Something About The Night
01 - Texas Is A State Of Mind (Live)
02 - Hoodlums Of Love
03 - Dallas After Midnight
04 - Hello Early Morning
05 - Something About The Night
06 - Low Life Companions
07 - The Nights Never Get Lonely (Live)
08 - Volcano Love
09 - (The Last Recording Of) Redneck Mother (Ever) (Live)
Tracks 01, 07 & 09 recorded live at the Palladium, Dallas, Texas, April 14, 1979
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04 - [1984] Caught In The Act
Recorded live to digital, 2-track (no overdubs!) at Soap Creek Saloon, Austin, Texas, June 29, 1984 by Austin's Riverside Sound mobile recording facility.
01 - Running On The Wild Side
02 - Still Can't Believe You're Gone
03 - Hard Living
04 - Stand By Me
05 - Blackeyed Peas
06 - Dallas After Midnight
07 - Jenny Lynn
08 - Back To Louisiana
09 - Rockabilly Rock
10 - Shifting Sands
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05 - [1991] Lost Train Of Thought
Ray Wylie Hubbard self-released this album in 1991, selling it at shows throughout his home state of Texas. Despite its low-key origins, it introduced many to his intelligent, uncompromising songwriting.
01 - Here Comes The Night
02 - Sweet Lips Goodbye
03 - Basics Of Love
04 - These Eyes (With Willie Nelson)
05 - When She Sang Amazing Grace
06 - Runaway Freight Train
07 - Portales
08 - Rockabilly Rock
09 - Love In Vain
10 - Twist Of Fate
11 - Wanna Rock And Roll
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06 - [1994] Loco Gringo's Lament
This 1994 release from the Texas country singer-songwriter contains a sophisticated collection of acoustic and honky-tonk songs of lost love, retribution, and deliverance, given a sympathetic setting by Lloyd Maines's superlative production.
01 - Dust Of The Chase
02 - Just To Hold You
03 - Love Never Dies
04 - Little Angel Comes A-Walkin'
05 - After The Fall
06 - Wanna Rock and Roll
07 - I've Seen That Old Highway
08 - Didn't Have A Prayer
09 - Bless The Hearts Of The Lonely
10 - Loco Gringo's Lament
11 - The Real Trick
12 - The Messenger
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07 - [1997] Dangerous Spirits
Sheer determination is what makes this 1997 release a force to be reckoned with. Hubbard's songs mix styles and genres recklessly, using whatever he needs to get the point across.
While he doesn't have the greatest voice around, he puts his soul into his singing, leaving a memorable impression. None of these songs are comfortable, simple ditties about love and loss and all that...these are songs about life and pain in a way that country music usually doesn't cozy up to, with some genuinely creepy moments.
01 - Dangerous Spirits
02 - If Heaven Is Not A Place To Go
03 - Without Love (We're Just Wastin' Time)
04 - Hey That's All Right
05 - Last Train To Amsterdam
06 - The Last Younger Son
07 - Resurrection
08 - Crimson Dragon Tattoo
09 - The Sun Also Rises
10 - The Ballad Of The Crimson Kings
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08 - [1998] Live At Cibolo Creek Country Club
Ray Wylie Hubbard's greatest gift is as a songwriter, but writing great songs doesn't mean much if no one hears them, and Hubbard is fortunate that he can communicate his work to an audience with warmth, immediacy, and an accomplished actor's sense of drama.
In 1998, Hubbard and a handful of friends -- including ace guitarists Lloyd Maines and Stephen Bruton -- played an intimate, semi-acoustic gig at San Antonio's now defunct Cibolo Creek Country Club, and fortunately someone had the presence of mind to bring a mobile recording rig to the show. Live at Cibolo Creek Country Club captures Hubbard and his musicians performing a handful of his best songs on a night when he was in especially good form, and this disc also proves he's as good a storyteller as a tunesmith (his shaggy dog tale of angry goats, grumpy farmers, and bitter Swedish rock critics that leads up to "Last Train to Amsterdam" is worth the price of admission by itself).
Hubbard's vocals strike a fine balance between roadhouse smoke and poetic clarity, and his little band proves its mettle without getting in the way. The long version of "Wanna Rock and Roll" cooks harder than you might expect given the circumstances, and while Hubbard may protest a bit about closing the show with "Redneck Mother," you know he'd do it again if you asked him politely.
Live at Cibolo Creek Country Club offers proof that Ray Wylie Hubbard can perform his songs as well as he can write 'em -- and given how good those songs are, that's saying a lot.
01 - Loco Gringo's Lament
02 - Without Love
03 - Ballad Of The Crimson Kings
04 - When She Sang Amazing Grace
05 - Last Train To Amsterdam
06 - There Are Some Days
07 - The River Bed
08 - Last Younger Son
09 - Wanna Rock And Roll
10 - The Obligatory Encore
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09 - [1999] Crusades Of The Restless Knights
This 1999 release is a rewarding album because Hubbard is able to stir a few slivers of hope into the blackness. His songs are dusty hymns-prayers torn from stained pages. Hubbard is not about to let past demons and present soul-searching overwhelm his mischievous side.
The echoes of Hubbard's '70s-outlaw image were clearly fading when he began his remarkable artistic resurgence in the early '90s. They are but dim remnants here, pushed aside to give Hubbard room to make such a startling and mature record.
01 - Crows
02 - There Are Some Days
03 - The Lovers In Your Dreams
04 - Conversation With The Devil
05 - Red Dress
06 - The River Bed
07 - This River Runs Red
08 - After The Harvest
09 - Airplane Fell Down In Dixie
10 - The Messenger
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10 - [2001] Eternal And Lowdown
This 2001 release is Ray Wylie Hubbard's blues album, though it is not blues in the traditional sense of 12-bar and three-chord progressions. However it is blues in feel, which is far more important. There are elements of slow country-blues to the soul styling from Memphis.
It is the spoken blues of Woodie Guthrie and Bob Dylan, but Ray Wylie has always been of that school of singer/songwriter going back to his early days. The big kicker here is that he has enlisted the stellar assistance of Gurf Morlix as both producer and guitarist.
01 - Three Days Straight
02 - The Sleep Of The Just
03 - Mississippi Flush
04 - Sugar Cane
05 - Night Time
06 - Black Dog
07 - Joyride
08 - Weevils
09 - Don't Bother Asking Me
10 - Didn't Have A Prayer
11 - After All These Years
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11 - [2003] Growl
Released in 2003, Growl is a record of an awareness gained; it is expressed in the most basic, elemental physical and emotional truths (from humor to doubt to surrender to anger at hypocrisy) in these songs.
The truth expressed on Growl -- the most aptly named of all Hubbard's recordings -- is in a dirty-hands, mud-romping, greasy, rock & roll inbred with Delta blues.
This is music comprised of exposed innards, cutting honesty, scab-ripping emotion, and pure, badass Texas attitude.
Produced by Gurf Morlix.
01 - The Knives Of Spain
02 - No Lie
03 - Name Droppin'
04 - Purgatory Road
05 - Bones
06 - Preacher
07 - Rooster
08 - Rock-N-Roll Is A Vicious Game
09 - Stolen Horses
10 - Little Mama
11 - Screw You, We're From Texas
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12 - [2005] Delirium Tremolos
It seems strange that folks like Ray Wylie Hubbard once lived such wild lives but have been able to make solid comebacks later in life. Strange, because Hubbard, on this 2005 release, sounds as good as he ever has.
Better yet, the album has a nice, mellow country sound, and Hubbard has discarded, for the time being, his penchant for preachy, comic songs. It doesn't hurt that the album's been produced by Gurf Morlix, nor that he's joined by great harmony singers like Patty Griffin and Eliza Gilkyson.
Hubbard's choice of songs are solid too, combining deep but real lyrics.
01 - The Beauty Way
02 - Rock And Roll Gypsies
03 - Dallas After Midnight
04 - Torn In Two
05 - Drivin' Wheel
06 - This Mornin' I Am Born Again
07 - Dust Of The Chase
08 - Roll And I Tumble
09 - Cooler-N-Hell
10 - Choctaw Bingo
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13 - [2006] Snake Farm
These 11 numbers released in 2006 are shot through with deep, growling guitars that sound like a hopped-up muscle car roaring past you late at night, reeking of Pennzoil and cheap thrills, while Hubbard's lyrics serve up tales of deals with the devil, encounters with a variety of difficult women, and sweet and dirty temptations in all sizes.
01 - Snake Farm
02 - Kilowatts
03 - Heartaches And Grease
04 - The Way Of The Fallen
05 - Mother Hubbard's Blues
06 - Rabbit
07 - Polecat
08 - Old Guitar
09 - Wild Gods Of Mexico
10 - Live And Die Rock And Roll
11 - Resurrection
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14 - [2010] A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)
Texas songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard pushed life to the margin and lived to sing about it. In the process, his songs now possess the tenderness of a poet, the empathy of a historian, and the raw nerve of a card shark.
On this 2010 release, he adds "mythmaker" to his songwriting qualities. Hubbard strips his music to the bone here, and uses the Mississippi Delta blues tradition to his own ends. His music is raw yet utterly contemporary and crafted.
Snarling acoustic, slide, and electric guitars played bottleneck style, dirty mandolins, pots, pans, stomp boxes, basses, organs, harmoniums, drums, rattles, shakers, and tambourines are the instruments that fuel this impressive collection.
01 - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)
02 - Drunken Poet’s Dream
03 - Down Home Country Blues
04 - Wasp’s Nest
05 - Pots And Pans
06 - Tornado Ripe
07 - Whoop And Hollar
08 - Black Wings
09 - Loose
10 - Every Day Is The Day Of The Dead
11 - Opium
12 - The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse
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15 - [2012] The Grifter's Hymnal
As a music lover of impeccable taste, odds are that you’re already looking forward to spending the better part of the next hour – and several more after that – getting rather obsessively familiar with this latest serving of song and groove from Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Having no doubt played his last album, 2010’s A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is No C), to digital bits — and committed to memory such earlier chestnuts as Snake Farm, Growl, Eternal and Lowdown, Crusades of the Restless Knights, and maybe even everything else going all the way back to that 1975 Cowboy Twinkies LP that Hubbard himself would rather you forget – you probably can’t wait to tuck into The Grifter’s Hymnal and leisurely savor it from end to end.
This, of course, is how things should be. But a couple of variables could throw the above plan off the rails a bit. Suppose, for instance, that maybe despite that aforementioned impeccable music taste, you’ve somehow managed to make it this far into the 21st century without ever hearing of this Hubbard fellow.
Grim scenario, yes, but fear not; because whether you’re short on time due to an impending apocalypse or simply need a tidy introduction to bring you up to speed, the opening track on The Grifter’s Hymnal, “Coricidin Bottle,” tells you everything you need to know in just under two minutes.
What it tells you about The Grifter’s Hymnal is that the record rocks. And what it tells you about Ray Wylie Hubbard is, he’s the kind scrapper poet with the devil-may-care wherewithal to write both “lay down a groove like a monkey gettin’ off” and “shakes the mortal coil round my amaranthine soul” into the same song – and the lethal charm and chops to pull it off. - Richard Skanse
01 - Coricidin Bottle
02 - South Of The River
03 - Lazarus
04 - New Year's Eve At The Gates Of Hell
05 - Moss And Flowers
06 - Red Badge Of Courage
07 - Train Yard
08 - Coochy Coochy
09 - Mother Blues
10 - Henhouse
11 - Count My Blessings
12 - Ask God
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16 - [2015] The Ruffian's Misfortune
When it comes to down 'n' dirty roots 'n' roll, nobody in the wide world of Americana music today does it better than Ray Wylie Hubbard. From his humble beginnings as an Oklahoma folkie in the '60s to his wild ride through the '70s progressive country movement, and onward through the honky-tonk fog of the '80s to his sobriety-empowered comeback as a song-writer's songwriter in the '90s, Hubbard was already a bonafide legend by the time he really found his groove right at the turn of the century.
Beginning with 2001's aptly-titled Eternal and Lowdown through to his latest and greatest release, 2015's The Ruffian's Misfortune, he has spent well over a decade now chasing hellhounds through muddy waters and deep into the underbelly of the blues, with a Lightnin' Hopkins gleam in his eyes and a Rolling Stones swagger in his step.
01 - All Loose Things
02 - Hey Mama, My Time Ain't Long
03 - Too Young Ripe, Too Young Rotten
04 - Chick Singer, Badass Rockin'
05 - Bad On Fords
06 - Mr. Musselwhite's Blues
07 - Down By The River
08 - Jessie Mae
09 - Barefoot In Heaven
10 - Stone Blind Horses
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17 - [2017] Tell The Devil I'm Gettin' There As Fast As I Can
Tell The Devil I'm Gettin' There As Fast As I Can isn't a concept album, per se, its songs fit neatly together to chart a Dante-esque journey from Paradise Lost all the way to the final reckoning of "In Times of Cold." "There's a definite beginning, middle, and end to this record," says Hubbard, who's joined on that last song by the ever-exquisite Patty Griffin. "It starts with 'Genesis,' and at the ending, there I am trying to plead my case before the court of heaven, hoping I've got a good lawyer."
That wry Ray Wylie wit, can be found in spades here, along with heaps of the patented "grit 'n' groove" that's been a Hubbard hallmark and one of the most oft-imitated but never-equaled signature sounds in all Americana, going back to 2001's Gurf Morlix-produced Eternal and Lowdown and especially since his vicious "Snake Farm" in 2006.
Produced by Hubbard himself at The Zone in Dripping Springs, Texas, with his lead-guitar playing son Lucas and drummer Kyle Schneider joined by Jeff Plankenhorn (Dobro and mandolin), Bukka Allen (B3 organ), and both studio owner Mike Morgan and engineer Pat Manskee on bass.
01 - God Looked Around
02 - Dead Thumb King
03 - Spider, Snaker And Little Sun
04 - Lucifer And The Fallen Angels
05 - Open G
06 - House Of The White Rose Bouquet
07 - Tell The Devil I'm Gettin' There As Fast As I Can (feat. Eric Church, Lucinda Williams)
08 - The Rebellious Sons (feat. Bright Lights Social Hour)
09 - Old Wolf
10 - Prayer (feat. Jeff Plankenhorn)
11 - In Times Of Cold (feat. Patty Griffin)
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18 - [2020] Co-Starring
Ray Wylie Hubbard is the secret handshake amongst those who know. Earthy, real, funky, unabashed, his 17 album catalog has been swapped and played on the road for decades.
That passion for the man who's as much a renegade poet as a roadhouse saint brought together an eclectic mix of guests for Co-Starring, his first ever high-profile label release.
Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Pam Tillis, the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, and Ronnie Dunn were just a few who clamored to jam with the wizened icon.
01 - Bad Trick (feat. Ringo Starr, Don Was, Joe Walsh, Chris Robinson)
02 - Rock Gods (feat. Aaron Lee Tasjan)
03 - Fast Left Hand (feat. The Cadillac Three)
04 - Mississippi John Hurt (feat. Pam Tillis)
05 - Drink Till I See Double (feat. Paula Nelson, Elizabeth Cook)
06 - R.O.C.K. (feat. Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown)
07 - Outlaw Blood (feat. Ashley McBryde)
08 - Rattlesnake Shakin’ Woman (feat. Larkin Poe)
09 - Hummingbird (feat. Peter Rowan)
10 - The Messenger (feat. Ronnie Dunn, Pam Tillis)
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19 - [2022] Co-Starring Too
01 - Stone Blind Horses (feat. Willie Nelson)
02 - Groove (feat. Shinyribs’ Kevin Russell & The Shiny Soul Sisters)
03 - Only A Fool (feat. The BlueBonnets)
04 - Hellbent For Leather (feat. Steve Earle)
05 - Naturally Wild (feat. John 5, Lzzy Hale)
06 - Fancy Boys (feat. Dalton Domino, Hayes Carll, James McMurtry)
07 - Texas Wild Side (feat. The Last Bandoleros)
08 - Even If My Wheels Fall Off (feat. Cody Canada, Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen)
09 - Pretty Reckless (feat. Charlie Sexton, Gurf Morlix, Jaimee Harris, Wynonna Judd)
10 - Ride Or Die [Montar O Morir] (feat. Ann Wilson, Eliza Gilkyson, Lucas Hubbard, Ringo Starr, Steve Lukather)
11 - Desperate Man (feat. The Band Of Heathens)
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