Musical collaborations can be dicey; just because two artists admire each other’s work or till similar fields, doesn’t mean working together will produce a good song. The prospect of an album full of collaborations runs a gauntlet, and a second such album almost invites them. So, it is very good fortune that Ray Wylie Hubbard’s new recording, “Co-Starring Too,” on Big Machine Records, is a really good album.
The 11 songs avoid the pitfall of sounding disjointed; you can’t tell at times that these are 11 different collaborations. It sounds like the songs were conceived to be on an album that just happens to have different musicians on most songs. It doesn’t hurt that Hubbard lends his gravelly, swampy vocals and sound to some fine musicians, starting off with “Stone Blind Horses,” sharing lead vocals with Willie Nelson on a stately, slightly battered country flavored song where they acknowledge approaching the end of their earthly existence and hope they’ve touched the lives of people well and maybe been appreciated along the way. There’s some nice accordion and Lloyd Maines plays his usual excellent steel guitar.
Hubbard and friends kick up some serious dust on several songs (possible credit to his son and excellent guitarist, Lucas Hubbard, part of his father’s touring band. who appears on several songs). “Only a Fool” is a great, rough rocking tune where Hubbard and the Bluebonnets strongly assert that one would disrespect women at their serious peril, with angry guitar supplied by Eve Monsees and/or Kathy Valentine (yes, that Kathy Valentine). “Naturally Wild,” featuring Lzzy Hale of Halestorm on vocals and guitar and John 5 (currently with Rob Zombie, formerly with David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and k.d. lang) on guitar, warns the listener not to expect them to calm down or ease up. “Texas Wild Boys” has some fuzzy guitar illustrating hard living but decent people who aren’t like the police, politicians or corporate crooks, with a tough solo by (apparently) Tom Lukovac.
On the swampier, more soulful side, “Groove” is a slinky, funky song about where the groove started, crediting many places and influences but certainly leaving the listener to think soul, funk, blues, gospel, rock and other styles combined in various ways. Kevin Russell and the Shiny Soul Sisters add great gospel vocals. On the country rocker “Hellbent for Leather,” Hubbard and Steve Earle sing of returning to Oklahoma from Los Angeles, having had enough of the bright lights. “Pretty Reckless” is a humorous story of ending up on a night out in Austin with someone as crazy and, well, reckless as yourself. Wynonna Judd duets with Hubbard while Charlie Sexton and Gurf Morlix (the former Buffalonian who also played bass in Hubbard’s band for a 2022 Austin City Limits performance and previously produced Hubbard) provided smokey, bluesy guitars and bass.
The only complaint I have is that the credits are really hard to decipher. While the insert prints the song titles, singers, writers and lyrics, the musicians aren’t listed there but are found on the packaging under where the CD goes, in small print that goes line by line without arranging them song by song. I hope I didn’t mess up any credits in this. article.
Hubbard can be contacted at Wylieworld Music, PO Box 2706, Wimberley, TX 78676, at www.raywylie.com, and Hubbard occasionally graces Twitter and Facebook with his comments. Big Machine Records can be found online at www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com.
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