RAY BONNEVILLE

www.myspace.com/raybonneville

Ray Bonneville is a roaming blues poet, inspired by the road and the many other places he has called home—New Orleans, Colorado, Arkansas, Alaska, Boston, Seattle, Paris, France, Montreal and Austin Texas. Born in Canada and raised in the United States, Bonneville has lived all over. No place, however, has been more influential than New Orleans.
In the streets and clubs of New Orleans, Bonneville soaked up the prevalent take-your-time attitude that ran through the music being played there. “There’s something about the heat and humidity that makes people slow down,” he 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 at the core of Bonneville’s sound. A one-man band, he backs up weathered, storytelling vocals with a highly percussive guitar style, dramatic harmonica lines and a foot that keeps the rock steady beat. The result is a big sound with an almost primitive quality. It's visceral, raw music.

"Like gunpowder and opium."
- Ray Wylie Hubbard

"Bonneville creates his own powerful and unique version of the blues.
- Dirty Linen

"Bonneville writes tunes that are enterprising of melody while telling smart, surprising little tales of emotional dislocation..."
- Downbeat Magazine

"The key to Bonneville's music is the groove he finds and rides in each song."
- Montreal Gazette

"...a potent blues cocktail..."
- Folk Roots Magazine