Ray Lamontagne - 'Trouble' (Echo) Released 20/09/04

Bob Dylan woke up one morning to Woody Guthrie blaring out of the wireless, quit his shitty job holding horses for the rich and went out on the road - guitar slung o'er his shoulder.

Ray Lamontagne claims a similar experience, albeit forty-odd years later; factory job all day inspecting a pipe or somesuch, until Stephen Stills comes blaring out the alarm clock one morning to show him The Diamond Path to his True Calling.

On 'Trouble', it's Lomantagne's voice that stands out from predictable arrangements of guitar, harmonica, fiddle and violin - like Ryan Adams got soul, a little bit of Otis Redding, Van Morrison, The Reverend Al Green and may be even Jackson Browne thrown in for good measure.

The Ryan Adam's connection is cemented by the presence of producer Ethan Johns across the album. For someone interested in rootsy music, however, Adams' 'Heartbreaker' would be a better introduction to this particular strain of Americana; elsewhere, those looking for truly
inspirational or innovative folk music should take a history lesson from the 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' soundtrack or plunge headfirst in to the anti-folk meddlings of Moldy Peaches frontman Adam Green.