Ray Lamontagne

Reprinted from late editions of yesterday's Globe. No less an authority than Lucinda Williams has given her seal of approval to the power of Ray LaMontagne's voice. The gifted Maine singer-songwriter made an appearance during her set Wednesday night at the Orpheum Theatre and reportedly bowled over the crowd as well as his duet partner. She compared him favorably to Otis Redding. Thursday night in the first of two shows at the Opera House, LaMontagne maintained that spell, holding a hooting and hollering audience enthrall to his thoughtful ruminations.

2011 Guys Choice Awards 9 p.m., Spike You think it’s a joke, because it’s not Cannes? Because “Cowboys & Aliens’’ is going to get the Most Manticipated Movie award, and because “Fast Times at Ridgemont High’’ is getting inducted into the Guy Movie Hall of Fame? Well, any chance to show up for an awards show is no joke to Hollywood, and so tonight’s event will feature Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Justin Timberlake, and Keith Richards, who is honored for Outstanding Literary Achievement.

New Hampshire native Ray LaMontagne returns with his fourth studio album — and it’s an absolute gem. His first disc to be self-produced and the first as part of a band, it was recorded at his farmhouse in Western Mass. It exudes a homespun, rootsy intimacy as he shares his profound talent for rustic storytelling and a haunting voice that crosses the rasp of Gregg Allman and the spiritual intensity of Richard Manuel of The Band. LaMontagne’s appeal has always been to listeners who know these classic rock-infused artists and can also appreciate his Neil Young...

New Hampshire native Ray LaMontagne returns with his fourth studio album — and it’s an absolute gem. His first disc to be self-produced and the first as part of a band, it was recorded at his farmhouse in Western Mass. It exudes a homespun, rootsy intimacy as he shares his profound talent for rustic storytelling and a haunting voice that crosses the rasp of Gregg Allman and the spiritual intensity of Richard Manuel of The Band. LaMontagne’s appeal has always been to listeners who know these classic rock-infused artists and can also appreciate his Neil Young...

2011 Guys Choice Awards 9 p.m., Spike You think it’s a joke, because it’s not Cannes? Because “Cowboys & Aliens’’ is going to get the Most Manticipated Movie award, and because “Fast Times at Ridgemont High’’ is getting inducted into the Guy Movie Hall of Fame? Well, any chance to show up for an awards show is no joke to Hollywood, and so tonight’s event will feature Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Justin Timberlake, and Keith Richards, who is honored for Outstanding Literary Achievement.

To lift Dorothy Parker's famous line about love, Ray LaMontagne's music is kind of like quicksilver in the hand: Leave the fingers open, and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away. LaMontagne, the seductive Maine singer-songwriter who eschews his "backwoods" mythology, is his own quiet riot, even if some of his ardent fans were oblivious to that at the Orpheum on Monday night. For every relentless shout-out from the balcony, there was a curt call to "shut up!" to counter it. People wanted to hear LaMontagne, and often you had to strain to do so. With the...

To say the narrow, bare-bones stage was sparsely furnished would be an understatement. A pair of acoustic guitars, a small table flanked by a couple of microphones, and a bank of monitors, all of it cast in autumn amber light, was pretty much it. But it was all singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne needed to transfix, and then transcend, the room Friday during the first of two sold-out shows at the Berklee Performance Center. He had brought his songs, and his voice, after all. Even more than the stories of heartache and redemption that mark "Trouble," LaMontagne's major label...

Sensitive male singers used to be a much larger part of the pop universe. Think back to the '70s heyday of James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Richard Manuel of the Band. Those artists sang from the heart rather than from a cynical ego -- something that affects so many newer singers whose innocence seems long gone. Ray LaMontagne -- a former Maine shoe factory worker who recently released his debut album on RCA -- is a throwback to those more sensitive, guileless times. And his reward at the sold-out Paradise on Saturday was to have young women leaning over the balcony to catch his...

  The Life is good Festival returns to Canton this September 24 and 25 and the roster of acts performing at the two day shindig is long and appealing. With folks like the Avett Brothers, Raphael Saadiq, the Hold Steady, Ray LaMontagne, Ingrid Michaelson, and Dwight and Nicole on tap, it's a good mix of local, national, and international acts playing pop, rock, soul, Americana, and roots music to benefit the Life is good Kids Foundation. The fest will again host a kids' music stage as well.

CAMBRIDGE - Although the repetition of the shout eventually made it irritating, it was hard to disagree with the sentiment. "Now that's how you play rock 'n' roll!" a fan fervently proclaimed throughout Jason Isbell's deeply gratifying performance at T.T. the Bear's Tuesday night. Isbell's 90-minute show was pretty much a crash course in getting it right. Sporting crisp Western wear and slinging impeccably heated guitar solos, Isbell wailed in a rasp that showcased both emotional heft and admirable technique, proffering lyrics that could break hearts on the first...

Reprinted from late editions of yesterday's Globe. No less an authority than Lucinda Williams has given her seal of approval to the power of Ray LaMontagne's voice. The gifted Maine singer-songwriter made an appearance during her set Wednesday night at the Orpheum Theatre and reportedly bowled over the crowd as well as his duet partner. She compared him favorably to Otis Redding. Thursday night in the first of two shows at the Opera House, LaMontagne maintained that spell, holding a hooting and hollering audience enthrall to his thoughtful ruminations.

To lift Dorothy Parker's famous line about love, Ray LaMontagne's music is kind of like quicksilver in the hand: Leave the fingers open, and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away. LaMontagne, the seductive Maine singer-songwriter who eschews his "backwoods" mythology, is his own quiet riot, even if some of his ardent fans were oblivious to that at the Orpheum on Monday night. For every relentless shout-out from the balcony, there was a curt call to "shut up!" to counter it. People wanted to hear LaMontagne, and often you had to strain to do so. With the whole...

To say the narrow, bare-bones stage was sparsely furnished would be an understatement. A pair of acoustic guitars, a small table flanked by a couple of microphones, and a bank of monitors, all of it cast in autumn amber light, was pretty much it. But it was all singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne needed to transfix, and then transcend, the room Friday during the first of two sold-out shows at the Berklee Performance Center. He had brought his songs, and his voice, after all. Even more than the stories of heartache and redemption that mark "Trouble," LaMontagne's major label...

Sensitive male singers used to be a much larger part of the pop universe. Think back to the '70s heyday of James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Richard Manuel of the Band. Those artists sang from the heart rather than from a cynical ego -- something that affects so many newer singers whose innocence seems long gone. Ray LaMontagne -- a former Maine shoe factory worker who recently released his debut album on RCA -- is a throwback to those more sensitive, guileless times. And his reward at the sold-out Paradise on Saturday was to have young women leaning over the balcony to catch his...