The Motley Kitchen’s Dinner and a Show series presents "song and groove man" Ray Bonneville on Friday, March 23.
With a style that sometimes draws comparisons to JJ Cale and Daniel Lanois, this blues-influenced, New Orleans-inspired artist will put you into a delightful groove from the first few bars of music he plays.
It’s a groove that that has evolved over time and place for an artist who has lived much. Originally from Quebec City, he has lived in Boston, Boulder, Alaska, Seattle, Paris, New Orleans, Montreal, Arkansas, and now Austin. He has been a U.S Marine and a commercial bush pilot in northern Quebec.
But music has been a constant since his teens in the early 60s, when he toured New England with a young band in a ‘57 Cadillac ambulance.
Later, playing solo in rowdy bars, Bonneville developed a style of performance that helped him be heard above the hubbub.
“My thumb became my bass player and my index finger became my lead guitar and rhythm player,” he explains. “My feet became my drums and with my harmonica and my vocal, made for a four-piece blues band.”
At The Motley Kitchen, he will be joined by his friend, Richie Lawrence, on keys and accordion. Bonneville has been to Sudbury before. His 1997 appearance at Northern Lights is still fondly remembered here, but a lot has happened since.
Three years later his album, Gust of Wind, produced by Colin Linden, won the Juno Award for Best Blues Album.
His post-Katrina ode to New Orleans, “I am the Big Easy,” was folk radio’s No. 1 song of 2008 and earned the International Folk Alliance’s 2009 Song of the Year Award. In 2012 he won the solo/duet category in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
Dinner and show tickets are sold out but there are still some show-only seats at $25 each.
Doors open at 6 p.m. with the buffet dinner served at 6:30 p.m. and the show approximately from 7:30 p.m. To 10 p.m. Reserve now by phoning 705-222-6685.
The Motley Kitchen presents this series in collaboration with the Northern Lights Festival.
