Loco Gringos Lament

After 1992's Lost Train of Thought served notice to progressive country fans that Ray Wylie Hubbard had returned from a long dry spell and was writing and singing as well as ever, 1995's Loco Gringos Lament confirmed that Hubbard was among the most perceptive and literate voices in the Texas singer/songwriter community, and that the passage of time had only improved his skills. A darker and more personal work than the honky tonk-friendly Lost Train of Thought, Loco Gringos Lament has little if anything to do with the outlaw movement that gave Hubbard his first taste of fame, but instead puts him on par with Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and the more poetic voices among his Lone Star brethren. "Dust of the Chase" opens the album with a tale of a bad man on the run that speaks more of the soul than the gun, and "Just to Hold You" follows it with a love song drawn from a real spiritual connection between two people, something that doesn't always come across in song. Though "Love Never Dies," "Little Angel Comes a Walkin'," and "Wanna Rock and Roll" (the latter re-recorded in a tougher version than the one on Lost Train of Thought) show that Hubbard still knows how to kick up his heels, even the most joyous songs here speak of the heart more than the barroom, and Hubbard's road-worn but supple voice can sing of the sacred and the profane with equal skill (and a similar degree of knowledge). Add some superb picking and sympathetic production from Lloyd Maines and you get a deeply moving and consistently pleasurable album from one of the finest tunesmiths currently walking the Earth, and this is an album worthy of your attention no matter what you think about the current state of country music.