Ray Wylie Hubbard - Live At Cibolo Creek (1999)

Ray Wylie Hubbard's greatest gift is as a songwriter, but writing great songs doesn't mean much if no one hears them, and Hubbard is fortunate that he can communicate his work to an audience with warmth, immediacy, and an accomplished actor's sense of drama. In 1998, Hubbard and a handful of friends -- including ace guitarists Lloyd Maines and Stephen Bruton -- played an intimate, semi-acoustic gig at San Antonio's now defunct Cibolo Creek Country Club, and fortunately someone had the presence of mind to bring a mobile recording rig to the show. Live at Cibolo Creek Country Club captures Hubbard and his musicians performing a handful of his best songs on a night when he was in especially good form, and this disc also proves he's as good a storyteller as a tunesmith (his shaggy dog tale of angry goats, grumpy farmers, and bitter Swedish rock critics that leads up to "Last Train to Amsterdam" is worth the price of admission by itself). Hubbard's vocals strike a fine balance between roadhouse smoke and poetic clarity, and his little band proves its mettle without getting in the way. The long version of "Wanna Rock and Roll" cooks harder than you might expect given the circumstances, and while Hubbard may protest a bit about closing the show with "Redneck Mother," you know he'd do it again if you asked him politely. Live at Cibolo Creek Country Club offers proof that Ray Wylie Hubbard can perform his songs as well as he can write 'em -- and given how good those songs are, that's saying a lot.