First and foremost, I hope everyone had a nice, long holiday weekend. I know it's incredibly tough coming back from an extended weekend - and I personally am dragging my way through today. But music can help, so here we go. Ray LaMontagne today. How many of you have heard of him? I'm guessing not a ton of you nodded your head or raised your hand in agreement. He's done one commercial I think everyone would recognize - but that might be about it. Maybe I only notice it because I love dogs, but there is a Traveler's Insurance commercial where a dog can't sleep because he's afraid someone will steal his bone. Long story short, he finally insures it and feels safe - all to the tune of Ray's 'Trouble'. Pretty good commercial. Anyhow, Ray was born in 1973 in New Hampshire. Ray's dad was in the music biz, and because of that he always shied away from music in general. It wasn't until later in life, while working his late night job, he heard a Steven Stills song that drove him to want to learn more about music. And in 1999, he started putting music together and performing. He eventually amassed 10 tracks to use for a demo, and began sending it to various record companies. 'Trouble' here came out in 2004 and is certified gold by the RIAA. Other than the title track, a few other songs have been used in film and tv as well. And I think part of it is simply that the songs are so easy to listen to. They're all very well put together and easy on the ear. His style is so simply, but very cool to listen to. His voice is pretty raspy, and very soulful. Most tracks are just strumming an acoustic and letting his pipes do all the work. And the more upbeat tracks he does a great job coming across with enthusiasm, which some vocal artists like him have trouble with. I have a hard time seeing a reason not to go out and buy this. It's a really fun, solid listen.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Trouble
2. Shelter
3. Hold You In My Arms
4. Narrow Escape
5. Burn
6. Forever My Friend
7. Hannah
8. How Come
9. Jolene
10. All The Wild Horses
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Trouble
2. How Come
3. Narrow Escape
FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars
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