Ray La Montagne – Gossip in the Grain
Gossip in the Grain – Ray La Montagne
By Chris Peken
Some artists you just follow where ever they may go, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan. There is a contract between artists and audience, one of trust. Ray La Montagne is proving to be such an artist. Gossip in the Grain is only his third album, following the laid-back and extremely cool Till the Sun Turns Black, and is as different from that album as it was from his debut. From the opening bar of You Are the Best Thing we are hit with some of the smoothest Stax-style horns this side of Sam Cooke as La Montagne shows he is a true soul man, wringing every drop from each lyric without you ever questioning his intent. While the next track, Let It Be Me kicks it back a few notches, its shoes-off, low-light soul groove remains. I Still Care for You provides another change of pace, an ethereal acoustic strum and La Montagne’s most breathy of vocals floats you away, along with the most concise yet longing of lyrics. Throw in Meg White, an ode to the White Stripes drummer, that uses her own trade-mark stamping-style drumming to a Morricone opening and Syd Barrett era Floyd organ and you can see how this is an artist at the top of his game, prepared to push it further. Hang on, this is going to be a hell of a journey.
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