he opening track of The Grifter s Hymnal, Coricidin Bottle , tells you everything you need to know about Ray Wylie Hubbard in just under two minutes. He s the kind of scrapper poet with the devil-may-care wherewithal to write both lay down a groove like a monkey getting off and shakes the mortal coil round my amaranthine soul into the same song- and the lethal charm and chops to pull it off. The album really does have a lot of attitude, Hubbard proclaims. The sound he was aiming for-and bulls eyed- recalls many of his favorite rock records of the 60 s, with equal doses of Small Faces, Rolling Stones, and Buffalo Springfield.