Artist of the Week: Ray LaMontagne
Category: Ray LaMontagne Artist
Raycharles LaMontagne is a incredible talented folk singer-songwriter born 1974 in Nashua, New Hampshire, currently living in Wilton, Maine.
Biography
Lamontagne was born to musicians family. His mother and father was constantly traveling, and when Ray was a child, his mother left his musician father, while his father was on tour, and moved him and his siblings up North.
From that moment his father had no contact with Ray and for years had no knowledge about him.
Ray’s early life
Because of the stories told to LaMontagne about his father, LaMontagne refrained from most musical activity, instead spending much of his time reading fantasy novels in the forest. He has five other siblings, and it was difficult to his mother to take care for children and also to work.
They often moved to wherever Ray’s mother could find work, so it was difficult for LaMontagne to make friends with other children. LaMontagne attended high school at Morgan High School in Morgan, Utah, but frequently ditched class, wrote stories, or got into fights with other students. This caused him to get poor grades and LaMontagne barely graduated. After graduation, LaMontagne moved away from his family to Lewiston, Maine in order to find a full-time job.
But you know, great stories made a great musicians and your destiny will always find you so was Ray’s example.
Way to the top
LaMontagne found a job at a shoe factory in Lewiston where he worked 65 hours a week. One morning at 4 a.m., LaMontagne heard Stephen Stills’ song “Treetop Flyer” on the radio as it awoke him for an early work shift.
After purchasing the Stills Alone album, LaMontagne decided that he wanted to quit his job at the shoe factory and start a career as a singer-songwriter.
He suddenly realized “This is what I am meant to be doing, singing and songwriting”.
LaMontagne began touring in 1999, although he maintained a side job as a carpenter. In the summer of 1999, LaMontagne amassed 10 songs for a demo that he sent to various local music venues. The owner of a local theater heard the demo and invited LaMontagne to open for folk acts such as John Gorka and Jonathan Edwards.
A business executive heard LaMontagne’s recordings and introduced him to Jamie Ceretta of Chrysalis Music Publishing. CMP recorded his first album, and sold it to RCA Records in the US and Echo Records in the UK.
LaMontagne as musician
Trouble
His 10 tracks demo was re-recorded as Trouble at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, California with producer Ethan Johns. RCA Records released the album on September 14, 2004. Trouble sold over 250,000 copies and worldwide has sold over 400,000 copies.
Ray LaMontagne is particularly known for his raspy voice, which he claims to have learned by singing through his gut and not his nose and for his powerful and moving melodies.
Standouts of Trouble include the title track, “Hold You In My Arms” or “Forever My Friend”, but every other song is pretty good with the “All the Wild Horses”, pretty “How Come” and well everything, because there is no trouble with Trouble at all.
Till the Sun Turns Black
LaMontagne’s second album, Till the Sun Turns Black, was released August 29, 2006 in the US. His task was difficult, cause how do you follow a debut record that achieved out-of-the-blue grandeur on its way to selling a quarter of a million copies?
Album was reportedly written during a relationship crisis, the second album from Ray LaMontagne delivers on all the promises of “Trouble” and opens the singer up emotionally.
Some reviewers claims that Till the Sun Turns Black is better than the debut album Trouble, but make your own opinion. Both albums are great in own ways, Ray is a truly talented person and is the best “unknown” singer and songwriter today. No doubt about it.
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