What happens when you mix a singer with a young Cat Stevens look, a voice that is a raspier version of Brian Howe’s from Bad Company, and an acoustic sound that has a 70’s, rough-around-the-edges quality? The music of Ray LaMontagne.
BACKGROUND
Turbulent upbringings often create masterful musical results; the same proves true with Ray LaMontagne. Ray was born in the New Hampshire but as a child moved from city to city with his mother (his estranged father was a touring musician). Nevertheless, Ray settled in Utah for a few years where he attended Morgan High School. He pretty much hated every minute of it because he was, as he put it, and "oddball." After graduation, he moved back east where he found employment at a shoe factory in Maine.
One morning, as he was waking up at 4 A.M. to go to work, he heard “Treetop Flyer,” by Steven Stills, on the radio, and the song changed his life. As he put it, “I just sat up in bed and listened. Something about that song just hit me. I did not go to work that day; I went to record stores and sought that album out. It was called Stills Alone. I listened to it, and I was transformed. It killed me…it was huge. You don't know how those things happen. I just knew: ‘This is what I'm gonna do.’ That morning really changed everything -- my whole life.” Ray quit his job and put together a ten song demo and started opening for folk acts at a local theater. A business executive finally heard his music and he eventually signed with RCA in 1999.
MUSIC
Ray’s first album, Trouble, was released in September 2004. It emphasized a soulful, acoustic sound. Although the album was not a mainstream success, it did garner some fans and has sold 400,000 copies worldwide. A single from the album, also named Trouble, hit #5 on the UK Billboard charts in June, 2006.
Ray’s second album, Till the Sun Turns Black, was released in August, 2006, and builds impressively on Ray’s first album. The album features a fuller sound and showcases Ray’s improving song-writing abilities. The simple chords and melodies Ray used to compose Trouble are replaced in Till the Sun Turns Black by a richer, fuller sound featuring strings, horns, and an organ. The result is a fulfilling masterpiece that should be found on everyone’s mp3 player.
VIDEO
“Treetop Flyer”
“Trouble”
“Three More Days”
2 comments:
You are not going to change the game to make us give a bio are you??? I am just getting good at it. It is really like you to change the rules so you will win. I will try to find a band for you to add.
Thanks for the rocky songs. I haven't loaded them yet but mathew will love it. I got him the box set the other day because all of our Dvd's and Cd's were taken from the car along with my cell phone. I need to get yours and rachelle's numbers to add to my new verizon phone. Now I can be free too. Love you. Thanks for the music and all the cool things you send. It always makes me smile to see a new free CD.
You have to beat me in the normal game first, then I will change the rules in my favor.
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