BAND SPOTLIGHT | Ray Wylie Hubbard

Unfortunately many folks, not from the great state of Texas and not into the intense singer-songwriter-Americana scene that sustains and supports songwriting there as an art to be experienced and believed, don’t know of Ray Wylie Hubbard. It’s possible you have heard one of his songs from long ago, the classic, “Up Against the Wall (Redneck Mother)” made popular by Jerry Jeff Walker four decades ago, but Hubbard’s output for the last 20 years belongs on the world’s coffee table with the best poets and pickers anywhere. His most recent record Grifter’s Hymnal spouts brilliantly espoused lyrics with gut-grabbing sounds evenly spreading the music and the words into a one-piece wonder of wisdom, wit, rhythm and rhyme. You can comprehend the message or wiggle to the beat or get lucky (and smart) and take in both sides of the song for a complete immersion into the winsome and wily world of Ray Wylie Hubbard. To make things even better, he travels alone with a drummer.