Ray Bonneville

×

Expand

RODNEY BURSIEL

Ray Bonneville

press release: The Sugar Maple Concert Series welcomes Ray Bonneville

Packing his 9th studio album, At King Electric, acclaimed songwriter and master of the groove, Ray Bonneville has a pack full of new songs to share.

Ray Bonneville is a poet of the demimonde who didn’t write his first song until his early 40s, some 20 years after he started performing. But with a style that sometimes draws comparisons to JJ Cale and Daniel Lanois, this blues-influenced, New Orleans-inspired “song and groove man,” as he’s been so aptly described, luckily found his rightful calling.  

Born in Quebec, his family moved to Boston when he was 12. He served a year in Vietnam as a Marine, struggled and overcame drug addiction, earned a pilot’s license in Colorado, then moved to Alaska, then Seattle, and Paris and New Orleans. But it took a close call while piloting a seaplane across the Canadian wilderness to make him decide it was time to get busy writing songs - gritty narratives inspired by a lifetime of hard-won knowledge set against his gritty, soulful guitar and harmonica playing.

He’s since earned many accolades, including a Juno Award for his 1999 album, Gust of Wind. His post-Katrina ode, “I Am the Big Easy,” earned the International Folk Alliance’s 2009 Song of the Year Award, and in 2012, Bonneville won the solo/duet category in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. He has guested on albums by Mary Gauthier, Gurf Morlix, Eliza Gilkyson, Ray Wylie Hubbard and other prominent artists, and shared songwriting credits with Tim O’Brien, Phil Roy and Morlix, among others. Slaid Cleaves placed Bonneville’s “Run Jolee Run” on his lauded 2009 album, Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away.

An Austin, Texas, resident since 2006, Bonneville still puts the rhythms and soul of New Orleans into much of his music. His songs carry a groove and momentum that’s uniquely his — and will always be a part of him, no matter where he roams.

Song Kick Live Reviews from Madison

“Ray Bonneville was spectacular last night at Kiki’s House of Righteous Music. Great musician, very friendly and fun. What an intimate setting for such a fantastic performer. Love his music and songwriting.”

Murray5659

“My second time seeing Ray Bonneville. The guy is pure soulful magic. Dialing up evocative finger style blues from his guitar and powerful lyrics, Ray is a no miss. So, if you get the chance, go!”

Roundstones

Press

"Like Gunpowder and Opium . . ."   - Ray Wylie Hubbard 

"Fans of Tom Waits, Chuck E. Weiss and J.J. Cale pay attention because here comes a singer/songwriter, who can effortlessly join this row." -Peter Marinus, Blues Magazine, October 2018

"Bonneville strips his bluesy Americana down to its essentials and steeps it in a humid, Southern vibe, creating a compelling poetry of hard living and deep feeling." Elmore Magazine, September 2018

"Ray Bonneville's ninth studio LP kicks off deceptively dark and low in the slow-bruising blues of "Waiting on the Night," but that's where the decadelong Austinite shines. The Canadian pushes a journeyman's patience and confidence, guitar lines cutting deep but never flashy, and a voice just rough enough to bleed experience. At King Electric picks up groove as it progresses, with "South of the Blues" and "It'll Make a Hole in You" licking suave rhythms that kick back to 2008's Goin' by Feel, while "Codeine" grinds the grit of 2011's Bad Man's Blood and "Papachulalay" lays down New Orleans swagger. Bonneville's honed character narratives climax with "The Day They Let Me Out," but the understated, soulful "Tender Heart" stands as the LP's highlight, a potential blowout hit behind the right vocalist." - Doug Freeman, The Austin Chronicle, September 2018

The Sugar Maple Concert Series is presented by the Four Lakes Traditional Music Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring American roots music in the greater Madison WI community through year round concert series shows and the annual Sugar Maple Music Festival, held July 31 – August 1, 2020 at Lake Farm County Park.