Ray Bonneville - At King Electric

Released: 2018
Size: 99.5 MB
Time: 42:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Styles: Blues Roots
Art: Front

1. Waiting On The Night [2:58]
2. Next Card To Fall [3:57]
3. Tender Heart [4:46]
4. South Of The Blues [4:26]
5. It'll Make A Hole In You [3:36]
6. Codeine [3:13]
7. Until Such A Day [4:10]
8. Papachulalay [4:13]
9. The Day They Let Me Out [4:19]
10. Forever Gone [4:25]
11. Riverside Drive [2:24]

Award-winning singer/songwriter Ray Bonneville will release his new CD, At King Electric, on September 7 via Stonefly Records. Featuring 11 all-original songs, At King Electric was recorded in Austin, Texas and produced by Ray Bonneville and Justin Douglas. In addition to Ray Bonneville (guitars, vocals & harmonica), the band for the recording sessions included Richie Lawrence (electric piano & accordion), and Andre Bohren (drums, percussion & piano), with additional guest artists Gurf Morlix (guitar & bass) and Stefano Intelisano (B3 organ).

Based in Austin for the past 10 years, 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. His new CD, At King Electric, delivers more than his trademark grit and groove. Songs such as “The Next Card to Fall” and “Codeine” gleam with intimate narratives of characters reaching for hope and wrestling with despair. Rich guitar and harmonica lines resonate over spare and infectious rhythms, while Bonneville’s deep, evocative voice confesses life’s harsh realities.

At King Electric

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Ray Bonneville - Rough Luck

Size: 97,7 MB
Time: 42:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2000
Styles: Folk Blues, Country Blues
Art: Full

01. What Was I To Do (3:33)
02. Two Bends In The Road (3:40)
03. Rough Luck (3:13)
04. I'm Not Alone (3:34)
05. Sylvie's Got A New Man (2:53)
06. The Last Time (3:46)
07. Just Before Dawn (3:36)
08. Wild Thing For You (2:57)
09. Street Singer (2:19)
10. Down On The Ground (3:35)
11. Laughing Heart (4:12)
12. Roll With The Punches (3:51)
13. Raven Bill (0:51)

Ray Bonneville is not a young man. And sometimes age helps to avoid taking the wrong musical paths. Despite more than three decades of touring, Rough Luck is only Bonneville's fourth album. Deciding that "less is sometimes more," he went into the studio to record a live solo album album. The idea was to recreate the experience of a small venue.

On 13 tracks, the Canadian accompanies himself on several electric and acoustic guitars, a National steel guitar, the harmonica and the footboard.

Bonneville shows his love for the country blues, the slow and easygoing sort. The rock influences of the earlier releases are moved right to the back, as everything about this record whispers "laid back." The former bush pilot's vocals are somewhat reminiscent of a J.J. Cale or a Mark Knopfler. Listen to "Sylvie's Got A New Man" and you can watch your toes go berserk, as they just have to move with the groove of a song with an incredibly funky guitar. Impeccable guitar style, great sense of rhythm, no wonder that the album scores on all points.

The man is in no need of a band, he sounds like one himself. The lyrics deal with, no surprise there, people having the blues, whether it's the small blues as in "Rough Luck," where the upbeat melody seem to betray the slightly darker words ("I took a room at the Heartwreck Inn / wasn't to sure whether I'd come out again") or whether it's the big blues as in "Down On The Ground." It's the story of a bleak and depressive day, a day that will pass eventually: "I hear the mail come through the slot / I don't care much what I got / Let the machine answer the phone / I got nothin to say to anyone I know."

This is a spellbinding record that will justly enhance Bonneville's reputation as a first-rate country blueser. A record like a thunderstorm, just much more quiet. ~Review by Michael Gasser

Rough Luck MP3
Rough Luck FLAC

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Ray Bonneville - 2 albums: Goin' By Feel / Bad Man's Blood

Album: Goin' By Feel
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:40
Size: 111.4 MB
Styles: Roots, Country blues
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[4:00] 1. Crow John
[3:27] 2. What Katy Did
[4:43] 3. Sabine River
[3:34] 4. Cemetery Road
[4:35] 5. I Am The Big Easy
[3:53] 6. So Long Blues
[3:26] 7. Reckless Feeling
[4:37] 8. Carry The Fallen
[3:48] 9. Goin' By Feel
[4:03] 10. Shy Star
[4:44] 11. Run Jolee Run
[3:43] 12. Cool Cool Rain

Although he has toured all over the world, sharing the bill with such luminaries as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, J.J. Cale and Robert Cray, Ray Bonneville became known in the U.S. a few years ago, when he released Roll It Down, his first CD on a U.S. label. Following up on that album’s success, he returns with a power-packed album that Ray produced with Gurf Morlix (Mary Gauthier, Lucinda Williams) and Rob Heaney (Cirque du Soleil, Kate & Anna McGarrigle). The record’s smoky groove-laden tracks include crowd favorites “What Katy Did,” “Carry the Fallen” and “I Am the Big Easy,” his powerful tribute to the resilience of New Orleans, where Bonneville lived for half a decade. Although the traveling musician has spent time in many places, including Boston, Colorado, Alaska, Montreal, Seattle and Paris, France, it is New Orleans that Ray cites as the city most influential to his unique musical style. Bonneville says, “New Orleans is where I learned to take my time, to allow space between the notes so the songs could truly groove.” That groove is certainly present in “I Am the Big Easy” with Ray’s funky syncopated sound mixing with Eliza Gilkyson’s earthy harmony vocals. This song, like all on Goin’ By Feel, is an example of what is best about Ray Bonneville—his ability to combine infectious bluesy sound with tough, poetic storytelling.

A world-class guitarist, harmonica player and hard-hitting songwriter, it is no wonder that Bonneville has received rave reviews from blues, jazz and roots critics alike and can count among his fans such artists as Chris Smither and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Combining the best of blues, folk and Americana, Ray’s grooves hypnotize and don’t let go.

Goin' By Feel mc
Goin' By Feel zippy

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Album: Bad Man's Blood
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:45
Size: 91.0 MB
Styles: Roots, Country blues
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[4:18] 1. Bad Man’s Blood
[3:32] 2. Sugar And Riley
[4:05] 3. River John
[3:55] 4. Good Times
[2:30] 5. Mississippi
[3:00] 6. Night Walker
[3:24] 7. Darlin’ (Put Your Suitcase Down)
[4:34] 8. Blonde Of Mine
[4:21] 9. Cross And Flowers
[2:20] 10. Ray’s Jump
[3:42] 11. Funny ‘bout Love

From the haunting opening bars of the title track to the playful closing song, Ray takes us on a journey through life’s darkest and sunniest moments, delving deep into the lives of this world’s drifters, losers, lovers and criminals. Following in the tradition of the great American writers of the south and his favorite authors Cormac McCarthy andFlannery O’Connor, Ray draws inspiration from the places he has been, creating short stories that evoke true-to-life characters stumbling their way through a rough and tumble world of violence, hope and despair.

“They’re songs about life,” Ray says. “People love each other, leave each other, come back together again, get hopelessly lost…hell, on some days they take each other’s lives.”

Not putting a pretty veneer on it, Ray recorded these songs straight and unfiltered. He recorded all the basic tracks by himself, playing guitar, harmonica, foot percussion and singing, surrounded by six or seven microphones and four guitar amps. Mixing high quality with “dirty” mics, he and co-producer Justin Douglas captured Ray’s raw energy and intoxicating groove, recording nine new songs and new versions of two older ones.

Bad Man's Blood mc
Bad Man's Blood zippy

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Ray Bonneville - On The Main

Size: 107,3 MB
Time: 46:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1993
Styles: Blues Folk
Art: Front

01. My Own Two Feet (4:51)
02. Dance With Me (4:45)
03. The Good Times (4:33)
04. On The Main (5:33)
05. Blue Train (2:15)
06. Take It Easy Katie (3:44)
07. If I Can (3:50)
08. Bottle Of Wine (3:26)
09. Tell Me (3:58)
10. I Gotta Go (5:19)
11. Lookin' For A Groove (3:48)

Blues singer, musician, and songwriter Ray Bonneville is a Juno Award winner originally from Canada. Before he reached his teens, his large family moved to the United States; a few years later, when they returned to Canada, Bonneville stayed in the States on his own. He found work as a member in different bands and as a studio musician, playing both the harmonica and guitar. When he discovered being a musician wasn't paying all of the bills, he studied flying and put in enough hours to get his pilot's license. He was influenced by and performed with great bluesmen like the legendary Muddy Waters and Bukka White. In 1993, Bonneville finished his debut recording On the Main. It was followed by 1997's Solid Ground, which underscored his growing writing and playing skills. Gust of Wind, which earned Bonneville a Juno Award for Canada's Blues Album of the Year, was released in 1999 and Rough Luck came out in 2000. The folk-tinged Roll It Down followed three years later, while 2007's Goin' by Feel boasted a darker, smokier sound and a tribute to New Orleans in the song "I Am the Big Easy." Bonneville reunited with that album's producer, Gurf Morlix, for his next album, 2011's Bad Man's Blood. The album won him an Internatioinal Blues Challenge, Solo/Duet Of The Year award in 2012. Bonneville toured long and hard throughout 2013. When he was ready to record again, he and co-producer and engineer Justin Douglas entered Austin, Texas' Shrine Studio and emerged with Easy Gone. The album was released by Red House in April of 2014.

On The Main

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Ray Bonneville - Easy Gone

Size: 85,9 MB
Time: 36:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Blues Folk
Art: Front

01. Who Do Call The Shots (3:52)
02. Shake Off Them Blues (3:05)
03. Where Has My Easy Gone (3:45)
04. Love Is Wicked (4:09)
05. When I Get To New York (3:50)
06. Lone Freighter’s Wail (3:57)
07. So Lonely I Could Cry (3:33)
08. South Little One (4:18)
09. Mile Marker 41 (2:57)
10. Two Bends In The Road (3:14)

On 2011's Bad Man's Blood, singer/songwriter/guitarist Ray Bonneville revealed himself as a songwriter in the same tradition that begat J.J. Cale: equal parts blues, rockabilly, folk, country, and R&B. On Easy Gone, he establishes that he is also a unique stylist. His words and metaphors are skeletally spare, stiletto sharp. There aren't any extended guitar breaks. His pace is unhurried and deliberate, rhythm and melody parts of the same animal. Produced with Justin Douglas, Bonneville's band is small and his grooves tight. The settings in these songs are the American highway, the road in all its seduction and fury. His traveling characters are all vulnerable to the gnawing hole of loneliness; they're hungry for connection but can only inhabit it for a moment if at all, because they're haunted -- or pursued by -- the spirits of restlessness and movement. Bonneville has always been drawn to hard-bitten characters, not for what they signify, but simply for who they are. In the first person songs here, his narrator is inseparable from them. "Who Do Call the Shots" is a snaky, mercurial blues with snarling guitar lines that testify against the harsh blackness: "Four hundred miles of dark road on this no mercy night/Lie-telling shadows tryin' to fool my eyes...Riding a line thin as razor between eternities/used up luck against a long cold sleep…" "Shake Off Them, Blues," with its slippery, sleepy NOLA R&B, is deceptive in its emotional depth. "Where Has My Easy Gone," with Eliza Gilkyson on backing vocals, is sweet, weary Americana that asks questions we all have to answer as we age. "Love Is Wicked" contains a brooding Willie Dixon-esque groove that retells the eternal "Frankie and Johnnie" story with the drama of a film noir script. "Lone Freighter's Wail" is a tender, soulful, ballad whose title image bears witness to the lost and those who will be: "I wail for the old man/Alone on a porch/looking back on/what is no more….I wail for the drifter/who is like me/no direction/or sure place to be…" Hank Williams' "So Lonesome I Could Cry," with a low-moan harmonica and silvery guitars, is a modern country-blues that exemplifies its subject matter chillingly. The murder ballad "Mile Marker 41," uses sinister slide and fingerpicked electric guitars, a tense bassline, and martial snare; it connects directly to Cale's slow-churning grooves that ratchet tension like a coiled rattlesnake. The evil in its narrative is balanced by his protagonist's suffocating, consumptive paranoia. The songs on Easy Gone depict aspects of the wandering life without romanticizing it. Bonneville skillfully strips the veneer from popular illusions about the freedom of the road. His characters choose it or are cursed by it, but either way, they accept it as the price of doing business. Easy Gone is not just another chapter in his remarkable late-blooming saga, but the finest one to date. ~Review by Thom Jurek

Easy Gone

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