Ray Bonneville’s new single “The Way It Was Before,” out August 26th, 2022 on all major streaming platforms, features Will Sexton (producer, bass, & guitar), Richie Lawrence (keys) and Rick Richards (drums).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16th, 2022
Ray Bonneville’s new single “The Way It Was Before,” out August 26th on all major streaming platforms, is a song in which a remorseful character shows his vulnerability as he seeks forgiveness from his lover through a closed door. The lyrics ride a playful, infectious groove as they tap into a universally human feeling. Who hasn’t longed for the way it was before?
Produced by Will Sexton and Ray Bonneville
Featuring Will Sexton (bass, & guitar), Richie Lawrence (keys) and Rick Richards (drums)!
With insights gained from isolation, Ray Bonneville has emerged from the pandemic ready to share more of his life story, to draw from it creatively, to allow it to take him to new places and take his audience along with him. Bonneville will release three singles this year, followed by an album in early 2023. The working title for the song project is On the Blind Side, also the title of the first song to be released. While remaining accessible to the listener, this new group of songs represents a more introspective phase for Ray. “The Way It Was Before” will be released on August 26th, 2022, on all major music platforms and through Ray’s website at www.raybonneville.com/. (track details listed below)
In addition to this new family of songs, Bonneville launched a blog in February 2022 called Looking for Minnows (https://raybonneville.com/looking-for-minnows), featuring stories and photos from Ray’s memoir. Ray and his team will release these stories throughout the year. The following are the opening lines of “Killing Fog,” the first Looking for Minnows story, which describes a key turning point in Ray’s life.
“The heading indicator swings wild in the panel as I desperately try to fight my way through and around the blinding cloud cover that has suddenly dropped down from above as I climbed out of the shallow river basin. I know right off that I’ve made a deadly mistake. The back of my throat is suddenly filled with the acidic taste of fear, reminiscent of the incoming rocket and mortar fire I had lived through in Dong Ha, Vietnam in 1968.”
This very close call occurred while Ray was piloting a commercial Beaver float plane in the Canadian bush. He subsequently gave up flying to concentrate on writing and performing his own songs. At that point, he had already been professionally honing his now-acclaimed signature guitar and harmonica style for some twenty years.
Fast forward thirty years, over a life of writing, recording and touring, to the pandemic. Like the incident described in “Killing Fog,” the pandemic represented another turning point in Bonneville’s life. Artistic expression as he knew it came to a major standstill during the great pause.
Often called “a song and groove man,” Ray Bonneville has lived the life of an itinerant artist. From his native Quebec, he moved to Boston at age twelve, where he learned English and picked up piano and guitar. Later, he served in Vietnam, then earned a commercial pilot’s license in Colorado, before living in Alaska, Seattle and Paris. Six years in New Orleans infused his musical sensibilities with the region's culture and rhythms, teaching him to let the music breathe and take its time.
Ray recorded his first album, On the Main, in 1992. He’s since released nine albums, earned wide critical and popular acclaim, and won an enthusiastic following in the U.S., Canada and Europe. His awards include a prestigious Juno, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, for his 1999 album, Gust of Wind. In 2012, Ray won the solo/duo category in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. His post-Katrina ode, “I Am the Big Easy,” earned the International Folk Alliance’s 2009 Song of the Year Award, placed number one on Folk Radio’s list of most-played songs of 2008, and was recently covered by Jennifer Warnes for the BMG label.
Other notable artists who have recorded his songs include Ronnie Hawkins (“Foolish”) and Slaid Cleaves (“Run Jolee Run”). Ray has shared the bill with blues heavyweights Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Dr. John, J.J. Cale, and Robert Cray, and has guested on albums by Mary Gauthier, Gurf Morlix, Eliza Gilkyson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Tim O’Brien and other prominent musicians. He has performed at renowned venues around the world, including South by Southwest, The North American Folk Alliance, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, The Newport Folk Festival and plays over 100 shows per year across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. When not on the road, Ray divides his time between homes in Goulais River, Ontario and Austin, Texas.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, or Roy Orbison. There are times you’re in the hands of a gifted musical storyteller — a deep, gritty, road-weary troubadour — and you know it’s better to sit back and enjoy the ride, that the tales of seemingly real characters — their joys, pains, and angst — will inspire you through song... Ray Bonneville is one of those great songwriters.” — Tom Henry, The Toledo Blade, January 14th, 2019
“...On his ninth album Bonneville displays the discernment that some artists never attain, namely that he realizes the strength of his songs lies not in what he puts into the recording, but rather, what he leaves out... another example of storytelling that once again proves we are in the presence of a master.” — Joe McSpadden, No Depression, August 18, 2018
“Like gunpowder and opium” - Ray Wylie Hubbard
Track Details:
Track: The Way It Was Before
Track length: 3:33
ISRC: ushm22292881
CanCon: 100%
Album: On The Blind Side (to be released in early 2023)
Artist: Ray Bonneville
Words & Music: Ray Bonneville
Published by: Stonefly Records
Producer: Will Sexton / Ray Bonneville
Genre: Americana / Blues / Roots / Folk
Similar Artists: JJ Cale, Mark Knopfler
Recorded At: Music & Arts Studio, Memphis, TN by Kevin Houston
Recorded On: March 2022
Mixed: Justin Douglas, King Electric Recording Co. Austin, TX
Mastering: Andre Castro, Anjo, Portugal
Cover art: Susan Valyi
Contact
Management: celeste@maplestreetmusic.com
Publicity: evangeline@evangelinepresents.com
Booking: mary@granataagency.com
Canadian Booking: jensen@jproductions.com
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