The Ruffian's Misfortune (Bordello/Thirty Tigers, 2015)
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Reviewed by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.
Hubbard honors two of his blues heroes - Charlie Musselwhite and Jessie Mae Hemphill - by telling their stories in two slow-burn blues numbers. In "Mr. Musselwhite's Blues," Hubbard fills the bridge with Musselwhite-like harp playing, and in "Jessie Mae," he acknowledges his debt to the blues singer, who every time she sings "black angels dance" by declaring in a typical repetitive blues style: "Oh, Jessie Mae/Oh, Jessie Mae/as God is my witness/as God is my witness/I'm obliged to you/I'm obliged to you/and the Mississippi blues/and the Mississippi blues."
Hubbard delivers his typically forceful storytelling in his straight ahead, no-holds-barred "Chick Singer Badass Rockin'": "Short dress/torn stockings/that chick singer/is badass rockin'/Sticky Fingers/Let It Bleed/Telecaster/Bottleneck slide/Sings like a drunken Chrissie Hynde/Says rock n roll is flatout lawless/And Joan Jett is a goddess." Ronnie Dunn shares the writing with Hubbard on the menacing stomp with a heart of gold, "Bad on Fords": "Hey, pretty thang/Let me tell you/I was raised on the Rolling Stones/I cut my teeth on the Allman Brothers/and Billy Gibbons' tone/I'm bad on Fords and Chevrolets/But I'll be good to you!"
The album closes with "Stone Blind Horses'" a moving acoustic celebration of life and plea for a little grace: "I been riding stone blind horses/never seen a reason to believe/Hey, sweet Genevieve/say a prayer for me/your wild young cowboys, old drunks, and thieves."
Ray Wylie Hubbard's a storyteller's storyteller, and on this album, he leads us on more unforgettable journeys with denizens of rough-and-tumble worlds who reveal to us what it to live life as we find it, not as we wish it might be.
CDs by Ray Wylie Hubbard






©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
About • Copyright • Newsletter • Our sister publication Standard Time