At almost 80 years outdated, legendary Texas outlaw troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard continues to be turning up the amps and delivering the sort of gritty, unapologetic music that feels tailored for late-night dives, backroad jukeboxes and smoky bars. His upcoming album, Reel 2 Reel 4 Actual, arriving August 21 by way of Bordello Information with distribution by Soundly Music/Thirty Tigers, proves Hubbard hasn’t misplaced a single ounce of edge.
Uncooked, loud and gloriously ragged across the edges, Reel 2 Reel 4 Actual finds Hubbard leaning exhausting into primer-grey Texas storage rock with influences that echo the spirit of the thirteenth Flooring Elevators, Mouse and the Traps and the True Believers. Whereas Hubbard’s lengthy songwriting profession has produced poetic classics like “The Messenger,” “Mud of the Chase,” and “Stone Blind Horses,” this new assortment unapologetically goals straight for the “Wanna Rock and Roll” crowd.
Main the cost is the swagger-filled new single “Cassette Combine Tape,” a nostalgic, lust-fueled joyride filled with references to Golden Earring, Neil Younger, The Rolling Stones and Bob Seger. Full with a surreal animated music video, the monitor captures the reckless freedom of youth as Hubbard remembers stealing his dad’s Chevy Vega and driving it “prefer it was a Pontiac Grand Prix.”
The album additionally marks Hubbard’s return to his impartial residence at Bordello Information following a two-album run with Nashville’s Large Machine Information.
“They handled me nice, and did every little thing they might,” Hubbard says of his main label expertise. “But it surely was sort of restricted as a result of I’m an outdated man. I’m now not a rustic hunk, you understand?”
Recorded primarily at co-producer Jonathan Tyler’s studio, Reel 2 Reel 4 Actual was deliberately constructed with a lean-and-mean philosophy. Hubbard surrounded himself with trusted musicians together with drummer Kyle Schneider, bassist John Michael Schoepf and his son Lucas Hubbard on electrical and Resonator guitar. Extra gamers included organist Bukka Allen, Reckless Kelly’s Cody Braun and Nashville slide guitarist Tobin Dale.
A number of tracks have been recorded on to tape, giving the album its gritty analog soul and provoking the title Reel 2 Reel 4 Actual.
“Simply hit report and play,” Hubbard explains. “I liked that sound.”
The undertaking additionally contains two songs recorded in Los Angeles with legendary guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers fame. In keeping with Hubbard, the collaboration got here collectively after an sudden cellphone name sparked by none apart from Ringo Starr.
The ultimate contact got here courtesy of producer and guitarist Gurf Morlix, who mastered the album and restored the grit and growl Hubbard felt had been softened throughout earlier mastering periods.
The result’s a report that feels each timeless and harmful — a reminder that Ray Wylie Hubbard stays one in all Americana’s true originals.
And whereas Hubbard hints that Reel 2 Reel 4 Actual might doubtlessly function his last full-length album, he makes it clear the songwriting isn’t slowing down anytime quickly.
“I’ve acquired so many rattling songs that I don’t know what to do with them,” Hubbard says. “We’re considering after this album we’ll simply throw out singles as I end them and see what occurs.”
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