AUSTIN, TEXAS —
Singer/songwriter Ray Bonneville has released a new CD called Easy Gone with music that reflects his musical and personal journey from French-speaking Canada to his current home in Austin,Texas. The eclectic artist’s fan base extends from Texas to various parts of North America and Europe.
Bonneville's musical presentations are spare and focus on the mood, sentiment or story.
Many of his songs have a blues quality, but he says he picked up all kinds of styles playing small clubs and bars across America.
“People call me a blues man, but really what I am is, I am influenced by blues music, but not just by blues music. I am influenced by country music and rhythm and blues,” Bonneville said.
Bonneville’s music also reflects a life that began with his French-speaking family in Canada, where he first picked up a guitar.
When he was 12, his family moved to the United States where he later worked as a cab driver among other things, playing music mostly for himself.
“I played for 20 years before I ever wrote a song or made a record, you know. And I was playing other people’s music, but I was always kind of changing it and making it my own style in a way," he said. "Consequently, when I started writing, I had this kind of style that was already developed.”
One of the things that endears Bonneville to his fans is the way he weaves stories into his songs.
“You see things and you hear things and you witness things, or you overhear conversations, and they somehow go in and then they come out in a song later and I really don’t understand it,” he said.
Like many other artists, Bonneville accepts the mystery of the creative process and just lets the songs flow out of him, much to the delight of his fans around the world.
Bonneville's musical presentations are spare and focus on the mood, sentiment or story.
Many of his songs have a blues quality, but he says he picked up all kinds of styles playing small clubs and bars across America.
“People call me a blues man, but really what I am is, I am influenced by blues music, but not just by blues music. I am influenced by country music and rhythm and blues,” Bonneville said.
Bonneville’s music also reflects a life that began with his French-speaking family in Canada, where he first picked up a guitar.
When he was 12, his family moved to the United States where he later worked as a cab driver among other things, playing music mostly for himself.
“I played for 20 years before I ever wrote a song or made a record, you know. And I was playing other people’s music, but I was always kind of changing it and making it my own style in a way," he said. "Consequently, when I started writing, I had this kind of style that was already developed.”
One of the things that endears Bonneville to his fans is the way he weaves stories into his songs.
“You see things and you hear things and you witness things, or you overhear conversations, and they somehow go in and then they come out in a song later and I really don’t understand it,” he said.
Like many other artists, Bonneville accepts the mystery of the creative process and just lets the songs flow out of him, much to the delight of his fans around the world.
