Bonneville sings 'songs about life'

Award-winning Austin, Texas, artist Ray Bonneville will play a concert in celebration of his new radio-charting Red House release “Bad Man's Blood.” The show will start at 8 p.m. Saturday April 27 at the Oak Center General Store.

Following in the tradition of the great American writers of the south and his favorite authors Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor, Bonneville said he 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,” Bonneville said. “People love each other, leave each other, come back together again, get hopelessly lost.”

Bonneville recorded all the basic tracks by himself, playing guitar, harmonica, foot percussion and singing, surrounded by six or seven microphones and four guitar amps.

“Some songs just will not leave you alone after they are recorded,” Bonneville said. “The guitar groove and words keep evolving over time. Two such songs, previously only released in Canada, kept on whispering to me.”

Going back to his first album, he re-recorded the up-tempo tune “Good Times” as well as his 1997 song “Blonde of Mine,” which has French and English lyrics intertwining.

“I love to mix the two languages,” he said. “It brings me back home.”

Bonneville grew up in French Canada but moved to the United States when he was young, speaking both languages and moving all over, from Alaska to Louisiana.

The New Orleans influence runs deep in his playing, and his swampy blues style can be heard in his cover of “Mississippi,” which was written by the late Chicago musician Mike Jordan (Wet Dog Band, Famous Potatoes, Mike Jordan & the Rockamatics).

Released as a digital single in June, it is a timely song about the flooding of the Mississippi River.

“Bad Man's Blood,” is a follow-up to his Red House release “Goin' By Feel,” which was named one of the best CD's of 2008 by DownBeat Magazine.

At a glance…

Who: Ray Bonneville

When: 8 p.m. Friday April 27

Where: Oak Center General Store, Highway 63, rural Lake City

Cost: $15

More info: 507-753-2080 or www.oakcentergeneralstore.com

Tags: lake city, arts and entertainment, arts, entertainment, lifestyle