Roaming blues poet playing at Crossings

The combination of Ray Bonneville’s weathered voice, blues guitar, harmonica and the steady beat of his stamping foot create a sound greater than the sum of its parts, Crossings at Carnegie officials promise. Locals can groove to his Big Easy-style of musical storytelling at 8 p.m. Friday Sept. 2 in Zumbrota.

Bonneville has just released “Bad Man’s Blood.” In talking about the album, Bonneville notes he recently took a ride down through the Mississippi Delta, sticking mainly to the back roads and stopping to visit the graves of bluesmen lie Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson, and places where they played. That trip provided inspiration.

“It’s a loose, sparse, darkly textured recording,” Bonneville said.

Canadian Bonneville credits the years he spent in New Orleans as being crucial to his music. That’s where he learned to slow down and let the music take the time it needed, he said. His tribute to the city, “The Big Easy,” won Song of the Year honors at the International Folk Alliance conference in 2008.

He calls himself a rambling musician, having lived in several places around the United States, as well as in Paris. On tour, he’s shared the bill with such luminaries as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, J.J. Cale and Robert Cray.

Tickets are $14 in advance or $16 day of show. Call Crossings at 507-732-7616 or stop by at 320 East Ave/, Zumbrota. Go to www.crossingsatcarnegie.com for more information.

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