Ray Wyle Hubbard comes from a long line of Texas singers, like Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and Jerry Jeff Walker. And like the rest of that family tree, he writes compelling slice-of-life story songs. As is the case with most of his albums, there’s a bit of good angel and bad angel competing for shoulder time here. The opener, “God Looked Around” represents one of those shoulders. He sings. “God looked around/he didn’t see nothin’/said, ‘Well, shucks, let there be light.’ “The song covers the Biblical story of creation with percussion, handclaps and an eerie sounding guitar, courtesy his son Lucas Hubbard. “Lucifer and the Fallen Angels” tells a story of picking up Lucifer and the fallen angels who were trying to hitch a ride, musical advice from Lucifer and the devil making a deal. “How about it? /if you drive us down to Mobile/we’ll pay for gas, buy you a lottery ticket.” Now there’s an imaginative song writer.

The title song is about the perils of the musician’s life and life in general. “Being in love with her is like living in a thunderstorm.” “Tell the Devil that I’m getting there as fast as I can/with a sunburst Gibson and an alt country band.” This sung with Lucinda Williams and Eric Church singing backup. There are other themes, of course “Spider, Snaker and the Little Sun” is a tribute to “Spider” John Koerner, Dave “Snaker” Ray, and Tony “Little Sun” Glover. For the uninitiated, Koerner, Ray and Glover were a blues trio who had a short bit of fame and inspiration in the sixties.

It’s a treat to hear new music from this folksy country-ish troubadour. It puts a smile on the day