Photo by Todd Wolfson
The Ruffian’s Misfortune, Ray Wylie Hubbard’s new album, is the second in a planned trilogy that tackles mortality. But in true RWH fashion, he’s dealing with all the heavy stuff with a wink. “As I’ve gotten older…you start thinking about your mortality,” he told KUTX’s Elizabeth McQueen. “I’m just kinda hoping God grades on a curve.”
Hubbard’s songs are filled with these kinds of dichotomies, born from his own far-reaching career. He’s the guy that wrote “Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother”; he’s also the guy that seriously cites French poets like Baudelaire and Rimbaud as big influences. On “Hey Mama My Time Ain’t Long,” Hubbard turns his eye to the “back alleys of heaven” where angels would rather sing “Smokestack Lightning” than hymns. In Hubbard’s world, sin and salvation walk merrily hand-in-hand. Download a Studio 1A version of “Hey Mama My Time Ain’t Long” below.
–Art Levy
