Ruffian’s Misfortune

Ruffian’s Misfortune by Ray Wylie Hubbard

Ray Wylie Hubbard, Scorpio, I’ve used him as an example in horoscopes, on more than one occasion.

Famous for a tune, according to lore, he wrote in a blackout drunk, he continues to hone his craft. A favorite on Letterman, and Ray Wylie is always a consummate musician, another of the Texas Singer Songwriter group. Not quite country and not quite rock’n’roll, with a touch of the blues.

Proper sense of the absurd, some minimalist zen leanings, classical poetry, all plays into the image.

Picked up his recent album from a Twitter feed.

There’s always a lick, each album always a lick that jsut quenches it.

“I’m bad on Fords and Chevrolets/But I’ll be good to you.”

Bad on Fords by Ray Wylie Hubbard and Ronnie Dunn, on the album The Ruffian’s Misfortune

That cover art shows Ray Wylie himself at a gypsy fortune teller’s table, with some of the tablecloth’s woven design looking like blood, dripping down.

Fits.

The last two or three albums have all had a similar feel, similar build and fit, musically speaking. There’s a bit of this and bit of that, but something that approaches hard rock and one easier tune that might be construed as “spiritual.”

Plus a memory dislodged, always something in his lyrics.

“Short dress, torn stockings/That chick singin’/Is badass rockin'”

Chick singer, Badass Rocking by Ray Wylie Hubbard, Snake Farm Publishing

Summer nights in Texas, a certain band on stage, chick singer, badass rocking.

“Undertakers look like crows/Red-eyed, dressed in black”

Down by the River by Ray Wylie Hubbard, Snake Farm Publishing

Another image evocative too many summer nights in Texas. Down by the “river,” which in some cases, was nothing more than a dry arroyo.

The Ruffian’s Misfortune – Ray Wylie Hubbard