Ray LaMontagne: Live At Bonaroo 2005

Once again, Ray is an artist I was introduced to through Sean. LaMontagne has a sweet sound, powered by guitars and his smokey voice.

For my first voyage into the world of Ray LaMontagne, I figured I'd see how he was live with this 6-track collection from the 2005 Bonaroo Festival. If his recorded skill is half what his live talent sounds like, this guy can go places.

The 6-track EP bounces between sad sounding and up-tempo diddies. Trouble, Empty, and Forever My Friend keep the album up-beat with on-the-road bluesy/folky sounding tunes, while Burn, Shelter, and Jolene bring it down-tempo with very bluesy/almost-gospel sound.


In the End: This is a beautiful primer for the works of Ray LaMontagne. His songs are constructed musically simple and lyrically genius. His live stuff showcases his true skill, I feel. If you can, listen to some of the songs listed above as well as "All the Wild Horses" and his cover of "Crazy."

On the Web: While I have no bootlegs currently of Ray, you can find a number of tracks for download off of The Hype Machine.

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