By Charlie Denison
The music world has needed someone like Ray LaMontagne to come along. This former shoe salesman from Farmington, Maine, has blended alt-country with vocals like those of Otis Redding on his album “Trouble.” LaMontagne’s voice captivates with a unique, raspy, distinctive quality, making “Trouble” more than the ordinary singer/songwriter album about hard times.
One morning before going to work, “Treetop Flyer” by Stephen Stills woke LaMontagne. As he sat on the bed he had an epiphany that music was what he wanted to do. He didn’t go to work that day. Instead, he looked around for Stephen Stills albums and would go on to explore Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. From that day on, he hasn’t looked back.
LaMontagne began to perform in small venues around Maine when someone e-mailed him about playing for a company cookout. At the event, the governor of Maine struck an interest in his music and invited him to a Willie Nelson concert. The same man had a connection with Chrysalis Music Publishing, which led LaMontagne to RCA.
LaMontagne worked with producer Ethan Johns (The Jayhawks, Ryan Adams) who composed all the string arrangements and put down all bass and drum tracks. “Trouble” only took two weeks to record. Nickel Creek fiddle player Sara Watkins assisted LaMontagne by adding fiddle parts and harmonizing on “Hannah” and “All the Wild Horses.’
“All the Wild Horses” is a take-off of Dylan’s “All the Wild Horses” from the album “Self-Portrait.” In Dylan’s version, a women’s choir sings “All the wild horses in the sun, / How am I gonna get all this writing done?” As this repeats, strings build the song up. LaMontagne takes that string arrangement and makes Dylan’s one phrase into something more.
LaMontagne’s style stems a lot from Dylan’s “Oh Mercy” album (1989), the album that featured “Man in the Long Black Coat,” which is echoed in LaMontagne’s style of fiddle, strings and deep lyrics. It’s not a sound commonly heard. LaMontagne not only replicates it, but gives it new life.
On “How Come,” Johns lays down a catchy lead guitar riff that completes the song and gives the album a much-needed upbeat number. The low-point is “Burn,” a Jeff Buckley-like slower tune that loses the momentum of the track before it, “Narrow Escape,” which features LaMontagne on harmonica.
The title track is often played on 91.9 WFPK. It gives the listener a very good feel for what the album is like; if you don’t like it, you won’t like the album. However, there are several stand-out songs on the album. Key tracks include “Forever my Friend” and “Hannah.” “Hannah” takes The Band’s “The Weight” and slows down the progression. The chorus is catchy and can easily get stuck in your head — and same goes for “Jolene,” where LaMontagne confesses, “Still don’t know what love means.”
Jonathon Perry of the Boston Globe wrote of LaMontagne, “His soulful, sandpaper-and-honey voice has drawn comparisons with everybody from Joe Cocker and Van Morrison to Otis Redding and Cat Stevens.” The LEO praised him as “Dylanesque,” Rolling Stone called him a “hot songwriter,” and Esquire said he’s “an enormous talent.”
Once an introverted shoe salesman, LaMontagne is now on his way to stardom — selling out the Rudyard Kipling last month, London this month, and billed at Bonaroo Music Festival in June. LaMontagne could very well become the next best American folk singer.
