Ray Bonneville is a hard driving, blues dipped, song and groove man writing about the people on the fringe of society. Ray’s vibe is loose and soulful, with a greasy guitar style, horn-like harmonica, smoky vocals and pulsing foot percussion. In 1999 he won the Juno award (Canada’s Grammy) and was nominated twice more. Ray’s song “I am the Big Easy” was the most played song by American folk DJs, and won “Song of the Year” in 2009. Ray won the International Blues Challenge in 2012 in Memphis.

http://raybonneville.com/

DOORS 7PM
SHOWTIME 8PM-10PM

–

ADVANCE TICKET SALES END 12PM NOON DAY OF SHOW. Please check in with Will-Call at the River Room Hallway entrance the night of the show – your name will be on a list. Have the receipt issued to you as a backup of proof of purchase (this can be on your phone or printed). Should the event sell out, you can arrive at the venue and be put on a waitlist. We do not take call-ins for the waitlist – you must be present. We will assess the room capacity after the show begins – ENTRANCE IS NOT GUARANTEED.

PLEASE NOTE THIS SHOW IS BAR SERVICE ONLY – NO FOOD SERVICE. IF you would like to join us for dinner, please make reservations in our Cafe prior to the show at 612-379-3138.

The River Room is adjacent to the Aster Cafe. Parking available in the St. Anthony Falls ramp on 2nd St. & 2nd Ave, with an underground tunnel connected. Meters on and around 2nd St. & 2nd Ave are free after 6pm. Please note meters on Main St. are in affect until 12AM Midnight daily.

–

Red House Records artist Ray Bonneville is a poet of the demimonde who didn’t write his first song until his early 40s, some 20 years after he started performing. But with a style that sometimes draws comparisons to JJ Cale and Daniel Lanois, this blues-influenced, New Orleans-inspired “song and groove man,” as he’s been so aptly described, luckily found his rightful calling.

Born in Quebec, his family moved to Boston when he was 12. He served a year in Vietnam as a Marine, struggled and overcame drug addiction, earned a pilot’s license in Colorado, then moved to Alaska, then Seattle, and Paris and New Orleans. But it took a close call while piloting a seaplane across the Canadian wilderness to make him decide it was time to get busy writing songs – gritty narratives inspired by a lifetime of hard-won knowledge set against his gritty, soulful guitar and harmonica playing.

He’s since earned many accolades, including a Juno Award for his 1999 album, Gust of Wind. His post-Katrina ode, “I Am the Big Easy,” earned the International Folk Alliance’s 2009 Song of the Year Award, and in 2012, Bonneville won the solo/duet category in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. He has guested on albums by Mary Gauthier, Gurf Morlix, Eliza Gilkyson, Ray Wylie Hubbard and other prominent artists, and shared songwriting credits with Tim O’Brien, Phil Roy and Morlix, among others. Slaid Cleaves placed Bonneville’s “Run Jolee Run” on his lauded 2009 album, Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away.

Ray is touring in support of Easy Gone, his fourth album for Red House Records. The album takes listeners to some of the dark spaces and exotic places Bonneville has gone on his own travels. An Austin resident since 2006, Bonneville still puts the rhythms and soul of New Orleans into much of his music. His songs carry a groove and momentum that’s uniquely his — and will always be a part of him, no matter where he roams.