by Richard Cuccaro
Photos: Richard Cuccaro
You're in the grip of the sound of a voice and guitar that drops you into a time warp. Like a vise holding you,
maybe somewhere back around the early fifties. You hear a thumping sound of a steady-held bass line on a
cleanly picked guitar. The weathered set of vocal chords is a cross between Mark Knopfler and early Dylan.
A rack-held harmonica sounds like the buzzing of a bee on steroids. They're telling a story of a cold dawn
where a decision has to be made at one of life's crossroads. It's Ray Bonneville bringing his roots-soaked
stories to your aural cavities.
Ray first came to my attention when the Prime CD label sent a copy of Rough Luck to Acoustic Live for
review. A Primal Audiophile Series recording, it's goal was to feature the artist in a live, in-studio setting,
to capture the artist as you would hear him in a small musical venue. It aspired to portray the essence of
the artist and pay homage to the saying, "less is more." It certainly succeeded. This proved to be a perfect
setting for a man who so clearly represents the power of music connected to its beginnings.
Early Changes
Ray Bonneville was born in Ottowa and raised in Quebec City. However, in 1962, when he was 12 years old,
a job change for his father, a mechanical engineer, brought the family to Boston. From here, a musical odyssey
would begin. The result would be Ray's absorption of a variety of music styles, all having a deeply-felt emotional pull.
He remembers that there was a piano in the house and he got his first acoustic guitar.
At around this time, an amazing cross-pollination of influences blew across the airwaves. The folk groups
Peter, Paul and Mary and The Kingston Trio achieved wide public acceptance. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and
host of others would follow. Rock 'n Roll had introduced, among others, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Duane Eddy and the Ventures. In 1964, the "British Invasion" began. The Beatles made their United States
debut. The Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, The Rolling Stones and many more came afterward.
Some, like the Stones and The Yardbirds, burrowed into the roots of American blues and fed it back to us.
At 15, Ray got an electric guitar. He put a band together with some friends and performed in the Boston and
surrounding New England area in true sixties style, traveling in an old ambulance (a more positive twist, I'd say,
on the painted hearses used by some groups). They'd play at colleges often satisfying the needs of frat houses
for live rock 'n roll.
On the Move
In the late sixties, Ray did a tour of duty with the United States Marines, then returned home to continue his journey
as a musician. His wanderlust would take him many places. He's said that "I've got nomadic blood in me… I'm most
happy when I'm on the move." Lyrics in the stirring title track of his 1999 release, Gust of Wind, might offer an insight:
"I'll be gone first light / When this night is through / I can't be / Your reason to live / And if you look you'll see / I'm just
a gust of wind." Though Ray chooses the character of a woman as a to narrate the song, it could very well be his own
general point of view.
In his early twenties, Ray musical interest slanted toward the blues. He was driving a cab in Boston. During the early
1970's, in between fares, he'd practice playing the harmonica. He also moved around New England, spending time in
New Hampshire and Connecticut. He moved around a lot, performing with an early bandmate, Brad Hayes, as "Bonneville and Hayes."
In 1973, he moved to Colorado and stayed there until 1979. He and Brad performed locally, but would make trips to
New Orleans and play there also. While in Colorado, he took flying lessons and began an alternate career as a pilot.
In 1980, he moved to Alaska for a year. It was here that he began to develop the solo guitar and use of a footboard for
percussion that he uses today.
From 1981 to 1982, he lived in Seattle and then moved to Paris for a while. Characteristic of much of Europe, Parisians
show a high appreciation for American roots-style music. While in Paris, Ray said that he'd play at various venues, almost
every night, usually solo and sometimes with piano back-up. At Memphis Slim's club "Memphis Melody," he'd start at
4a.m. and go home in the early morning rush hour.
Back in the U.S.
In 1982, he moved back to Boston for a year, then from 1983 to about 1987, he lived in New Orleans. I asked him how
he reacted to the heat down there and he said he "got used to it." He also said that the music and the lifestyle had a
heavy influence on him. "The pace of life is slower. There's a heat and humidity in the music and it gets into your skin."
After New Orleans, from 1988 to 1990, he spent another two years in Boston, then moved to Canada.
Some winters were spent in Nashville, spreading his performing net ever wider.
In 1990 and 1991 he also plied his trade as a bush pilot in Northern Quebec, flying people and supplies in and out
of the forest regions.
The Recording Career
In 1993, the music took over, full-time, and Ray released his first CD, On the Main. In 1997, he followed it with
Solid Ground. In 1999, he released Gust of Wind, which won a Juno award, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy.
These three albums are sumptuous banquets of Ray with studio back-up. The Primal Audiophile CD, Rough Luck,
released in 2000, just Ray, guitar harp and footboard, is powerful and affecting. My brief July, 2000 review can be
read at www.acousticlive.com under "CD reviews."
Folk Roots Magazine described Ray's work as: "..a potent blues cocktail reminiscent of John Lee Hooker and JJ Cale,
leavened with Clapton and Dire Straits styled guitar work."
While Ray is a master of the blues idiom, his work is an amalgam of a variety of styles fused into a distinctive form of
roots/rock. Ray has performed at The Montreal Jazz Festival, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, The Winnepeg
Folk Festival, and the Kerrville Folk Festival.
Ray at the Rosendale Cafe Photos: Richard Cuccaro
I got to see Ray for a long-awaited first time this past year, at the Lincoln Center Roots Festival, and then again, at
The Rosendale Cafe. When he spoke between songs, his personality was relaxed and low-key. However, pounding a
footboard in high, leather-laced boots, he exuded all the strength and fluidity his CDs lead one to expect.
The essence of his musical philosophy is contained in roots music that comes out of early country and blues.
He says it can be heard in the songs of people like Hank Williams Sr., Patsy Kline, Jesse Fuller, and Lightnin' Hopkins,
"They're devoid of gimmicks… able to tell real-life stories." Also… "There can be more to a song than lyrics and notes... dust, heat, wind."
All four of his CDs are "must-haves" for our readership. Rough Luck can be ordered from primecd.com.
All four can be ordered from CDbaby.com.
For updates on CDs and performances, check his website at: www.raybonneville.com
Ray has said there's another CD on its way soon. Have the Sharpie ready for the autographs, Ray!
by Richard Cuccaro
Photo: Richard Cuccaro
The voice is not overpowering, but it has a pleasant reediness to it. It's just sharp enough to cut
when it needs to. And it cuts quite often. In the world of underappreciated talent that populates
Manhattan, Jon Albrink personifies the reasons I write these profiles. I admire performing
songwriters who are steeped in a depth of musical craft and whose articulate perceptions
permeate the lyrics of each song.
Case in point: "Dissatisfied" from his CD Shimmer and Thrum. "People, uncomfortable with its
familiarity, get real quiet when I sing this one," he says. Describing a woman friend whose
amorous adventures reach into dark corners, he sings:
She'd grown accustomed to her fate
But disgusted with the prospects on her plate
Mama's boys and married men
with all the freight
And a yen for indiscretion
Her lovers say:
'If I weren't married baby
but you know my hands are tied'
She thinks:
And who can really blame them
for all the times they've tried
At least it's understood, we're all dissatisfied
and then:
She said their needs are all the same
Sex and comfort, and the famous love and fame
And some mystery behind a stranger's name
That we're driven to uncover
There's a sadness in the land
For a time that's slipped forever from the hand
Time itself is overused and overplanned
So efficient is our grieving
Love accounts are overdrawn and in the red
And the best are always leaving
Then, he says goodbye…
So I kissed her on the cheek
And I bundled up my pride
And I walked alone and wondered
At the emptiness inside
That fills itself to bursting
And is still dissatisfied
The narrative seems drenched in the urban sensibility that is so particular to this city; a restless,
driven nature, never satisfied with anything that might bring peace.
Two jewels on the CD have the grace and polish of Stevie Wonder compositions.
In "Angel on My Shoulder," a man has to leave the warmth of a relationship to seek his fortune.
His lover pins a small angel on his coat for his symbolic protection. Thus:
I'm going far tonight with an angel on my shoulder
Suddenly it's colder than I had planned.
Another is "The Way I Look at You." As with the first, there are surprising and elegant
melody turns that produce an ache of longing.
When your dreams are broken
And your blood is shed
No one wants to take you into his bed
When your bridge is smokin'
River's running red
All of your friends have left you for dead…
Nothing's gonna change
The way I look at you.
The bridge soars:
I know I sound like a fool
when I go on this way
And give it all away to you
Somewhere it's written in the book
That every fool must have his day
My February 2000 review of Shimmer and Thrum can be read here
Jon described his history to me this way:
"I was born in New Haven, Connecticut. My father played trumpet, and I started to play the
cornet when I was eight. My mother played piano and guitar. They bought me a few Kingston
Trio records when I was about eight. I thought they were the greatest."
"We moved to West Virginia when I was ten, and that's where I grew up. I started playing guitar
shortly after that. A young musician named Sandy Banfield stayed with us once, and my Dad
taped him singing and playing guitar. He was a great finger picker, and I spent years listening
to the tapes and trying to figure out what he was doing."
"The Beatles and the Stones really took me down. The Stones always had great guitar parts,
especially when Brian Jones was in the band. I tried to figure it out on guitar - how the hell
did they play that part on "Get Off My Cloud"? I still don't know."
"I became seriously interested in jazz - middle Miles, Coltrane, Ornette Coleman. I went to
college for four years, and started playing bass. I moved to New York right after graduation
and started playing day and night - the loft jazz scene was really booming. I got to work with
some of the greats - Milt Jackson, Roland Hanna, Buddy Rich|.and I got a chance to play with
Michael Brecker, Gary Campbell, Dave Samuels and Dave Friedman at various jam sessions around town."
From the bio on his web site: He played with jazz luminaries Milt Jackson, Buddy Rich and
Mary Lou Williams, learning on the bandstand.
According to Jon, "Mary Lou paid me the ultimate compliment - she said, 'You play good notes'"
He continued:
"At a certain point I just started writing songs. I spent years collaborating with others and playing
around town with my own bands. Around 1996 I started writing acoustic songs and going to open
mics. I was invited to Jack Hardy's weekly meetings, and have found it to be incredibly useful in
learning about exotic pastas."
[The group at Jack's Monday night song swap will be thrilled that they've had such a great impact
on Jon's songwriting.]
To buy Jon's CD and get updates on his performance schedule, visit his web site at
www.jonalbrink.com