An Evening With Ray Bonneville

Ray Bonneville has created and mastered a fusion of traditional

American Roots and Blues music all his own and deeply influenced by

his upbringing in French Canada and the years he spent writing and

playing music in New Orleans.  He is known as the master of the slow

burn, the groove and acclaimed for his harmonica tone. With a greasy

guitar style, horn-like harmonica, smoky vocals and pulsing foot

percussion he captivates audiences by being his own backing band.

Known for his sparce evocative storytelling, Ray’s songs often feature

characters living on the fringe of society, set down lonely roads, on

long stretches of highway or in the belly of teeming cities.

In 1999 Bonneville won the Juno award (Canada’s Grammy) for his Album

“Gust of Wind” 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 and was recorded by Jennifer Warnes in 2018. Ray won

the International Blues Challenge solo category in 2012 in Memphis.

Ray Bonneville began writing songs when he was forty years old and has

released ten albums in thirty-five years since then. He will release

his eleventh album, with the working title “Nomads and Refugees” in

January 2026. He has toured relentlessly across the U.S., Canada,

Europe and Australia.

Jim Withers (Montreal Gazette) describes his sound as “folk-roots

gumbo… a languid Mississippi Delta groove, seasoned with smooth,

weathered vocals and a propulsive harmonica wheeze. Whether performing

solo or fronting a band, playing electric or acoustic guitar,

Bonneville allows space between notes that adds potency to every

chord, lick, and lyric.”

Thom Jurek (Allmusic.com) remarks, “With darkness and light fighting

for dominance… he’s stripped away every musical excess to let the

songs speak for themselves.”