Ray LaMontagne...Perfect for Sunday Morning

Sunday morning, nothing much to do but wait for football to start (let's go fantasy team!)...otherwise I'm just up early to sit at my desk, balance the ol' checkbook, and stare dreamily out the window at the beautiful greens and golds of our Alaskan autumn. So beautiful, so perfect...and then Ray LaMontagne came on my iTunes, and suddenly the morning got even better!

I'm a fairly recent convert to the Church of Ray, but I am happy to be here now. Ray is amazing: his voice often draws comparisons to Van Morrison, but to me it is a little more lush (if a little less powerful); I think of him more of a musical descendant of Nick Drake or a contemporary of Iron & Wine than anything else. But those comparisons come up short, I think, because while Mr. LaMontagne does do the folk/soul fusion, it is the intensity of his perception, the accuracy of his lyrics, which set him apart. I was lucky enough to get a copy of his 2006 Till the Sun Turns Black, and I was quickly amazed by how many of the songs seemed to speak straight to my soul, like great poetry on the page: "Gone Away from Me," "Empty," "Lesson Learned," "Within You," and "Three More Days" among them (and all on that one album!).

So here are some Ray LaMontagne videos, perfect for Sunday Morning. These are outtakes from a BBC Four special Ray put on in 2007. Awesome stuff (with decent sound quality)! Enjoy!

"Three More Days"


"Empty"


"Be Here Now"


"Shelter"