Ray LaMontagne appeared at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans on May 16. He and his band strolled onto the stage in no particular order, as if any one of them could be the reclusive New Hampshire singer. But, with one raise of his hand, LaMontagne revealed himself to the cheering crowd. Then, stepping up to the microphone he began to strum the first few chords to his 2014 song “No Other Way” and the audience was hushed. The band followed with soft drum brushes and a subtle bass guitar to leave space as LaMontagne’s voice filled the theater.
LaMontagne’s abilities as a singer have the qualities of a redwood tree: his voice is clean and majestic, capable of carrying itself to great heights; but at the same time it is undeniably rugged and earthen. It is hard to imagine that this tour promoting LaMontagne’s eighth studio album, Monovision, comes at the head of a nearly 20-year career in music. What I mean by this is that when an artist approaches two decades in production, it is almost like a meeting of two strangers when you compare their current work to their debut. But this is not the case for LaMontagne. His artistry has certainly come a long way from his 2004 freshman record, Trouble, but the man has always remained true to himself and to his sound.
LaMontagne’s voice hasn’t strayed far from his debut, but what he sings about has changed drastically over time. This produces an effect of LaMontagne becoming the main character of his music, that he himself is recounting these stories to the audience instead of some persona or overarching narrator. No matter what the subject is that LaMontagne explores, his presence within it always seems to produce a rusticity, a beauty and a deep warmth that is at the core of his music.
While introducing the third song of the evening, the lush “Misty Morning Rain,” LaMontagne recounted a story that seemed to explain this phenomenon. He had bought a cottage on the coast of Maine where for countless evenings he had watched storms rage over the Atlantic Ocean where the rain would bring the shoreline up the beach. Each time the thunder died he would be unscathed, but the passing storm would always leave him with a different scene to look at. So, in effect, the world would change him by changing itself. The clouds would roll away, or the ocean would calm, and he would be reminded of his smallness in the universe from the window of his coastal residence.
Over the course of the concert, LaMontagne sang tracks from a great chunk of his catalog: from 2014’s ebullient Supernova, to the lovelorn Part of the Light in 2018, to finally the high and lonesome sound of Monovision. But, I believe this anecdote reveals in part why LaMontagne’s individuality as an artist has remained intact after so long. This is because he finds new places to look at, new scenes to compose after the storm has passed instead of new personas to become. Ray LaMontagne appears to be chiefly concerned with playing Ray LaMontagne’s music. The band closed the concert with the song, “Highway to the Sun,” a slow ballad about finding what’s real and true before you die. LaMontagne encouraged the crowd to listen, and every face in the crowd leaned in to absorb the message. LaMontagne described the song as sad but hopeful. Ain’t we all.
Lastly, it would be criminal not to mention the opening act of the whole concert, Sierra Ferrell, a West Virginia singer whose debut record, Long Time Coming, was released late last year. Ferrel’s crystal-clear country croon was a presence over the whole theater. There wasn’t a murmur of any conversation, or the glow of phone screens in the audience the whole time Ferrell played. She was unaccompanied, carrying only an acoustic guitar on stage, but there was an intensity to her playing and a quiet ferocity to her singing. Even when all alone, she held the crowd in a trance. Ferrell’s soft voice emphasized every line of her songs, and the blue stage lights bathed each lyric in a poetic and somber atmosphere. Ferrell is definitely one of the brightest up-and-coming country stars. Even when accompanying LaMontagne, she makes her presence known.
Regardless, the Monovision tour offers two momentous artists at the top of their form and an experience of some of the purest rustic, dusty road poetry you’re likely to have heard this year.
For more information about the Monovision tour, visit here.
