Ray LaMontagne’s parents split up shortly after his birth, and his mother began a pattern of moving her six children wherever she could find employment, which meant LaMontagne grew up as the perennial new kid. He found himself working in a shoe factory in Maine when he heard Stephen Stills’ “Tree Top Flyer” on the radio. The song amounted to an epiphany for LaMontagne, and he made up his mind on the spot to become a singer and musician. By the summer of 1999, he had put together a ten-song demo tape of his songs, and that demo found its way into the hands of Jamie Ceretta at Chrysalis Music Publishing. The publishing house signed the young songwriter and teamed him with producer Ethan Johns in the studio, resulting in LaMontagne’s debut album, Trouble, which was picked up by RCA Records and released in the fall of 2004. With a voice that sounds at times like a huskier, sandpaper version of Van Morrison or Tim Buckley and a tight, emotional writing style, LaMontagne impressed critics with such songs as the title tune, “Trouble,” and the cinematic style of pieces like “Narrow Escape.” A follow-up album on RCA, Till the Sun Turns Black, appeared in 2006 and widened LaMontagne’s palette by incorporating horns and strings. Gossip in the Grain followed in 2008. In 2011 LaMontagne sang a duet with Irish singer Lisa Hannigan on the song “O Sleep.” More recently, in 2016, he released Ouroboros. LaMontagne is a very popular act on the road, and he continues to tour the world.
