Ray LaMontagne

Ray LaMontagne is one of those performers who could sing the telephone book over an acoustic guitar and still sound good. On his debut album, the former shoe factory worker merges the dry, soulful vocals of a 1970s Joe Cocker with lyrical content similar to that by troubled songwriting legend Nick Drake. Expect love songs, you-done-me-wrong songs, and some happy ones, too.

I admire LaMontagne, who's had nothing handed to him. But it bodes ill that the Stephen Stills album that moved him to quit his factory job was a '90s one. Just as we live in a world where some radio stations get on Stills's latest, we live in a world where some record buyers suck up folk-rock verities--to which LaMontagne adds nothing but a backstory. Since his admirers bring up Van Morrison, it is my duty to report that he lacks Morrison's voice, poetry, Gaelic soul, and r&b feel--in other words, everything that once made Van worth bringing up. Nothing lasts forever, folk-rock included. (Grade - C+)