Ray LaMontagne幼时跟妈妈和兄弟姊妹一起为生计漂泊不定，作音乐人四处寻演的父亲很早就放弃了对他们姊妹的抚养。年幼的他把对父亲的思念寄托在对其幻小说的痴迷中，寡言少友，喜欢独自在树林里阅读。这样的家境造成他学习差，在校惹事，几乎不能高中毕业，这不奇怪。成年后他似乎也自甘做一个农民，木匠和鞋厂工人。当每周65个小时的鞋厂工人，为了赶早班，一天凌晨4点，闹钟响起来，收音机里自动播放的一首Stephen Stills的Treetop Flyer居然像一只幸运鸟给他带来了灵感和希望。他从此决定放弃工作，专心从事音乐创作和演唱。又一位singer song-writer诞生了。他原本就是一个有天生资质的音乐人。这个故事似乎还告诉我们，一个人内心的音乐灵魂在凌晨时候才能苏醒。:)
略沙哑的嗓音和仿佛游魂不定的旋律塑造了这样一位悲伤歌手。他的歌曲表露了他对童年的痛苦的记忆和内心的的挣扎，单从他的三个专辑名称trouble, Till the sun turns black和Gossip in the grain就可见一斑。还有下面这首歌。
she lifts her skirt up to her knees,
walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing.
i never learned to count my blessings,
i choose instead to dwell in my disasters.
i walk on down a hill,
through grass, grown tall and brown
and still its hard somehow to let go of my pain.
on past the busted back of that old and rusted cadillac
that sinks into this field, collecting rain.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged
and of these cut- throat busted sunsets,
these cold and damp white mornings
i have grown weary.
if though my cracked and dusted dime-store lips
i spoke these words out loud would no one hear me?
lay your blouse across the chair,
let fall the flowers from from your hair
and kiss me with that country mouth, so plain.
outside, the rain is tapping on the leaves,
to me it sounds like they're applauding us the the quiet love we made.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged
well i looked my demons in the eyes,
laid bare my chest, said do your best, destroy me.
you see, i've been to hell and back so many times,
i must admit you kind of bore me.
there's a lot of things that can kill a man,
there's a lot of ways to die,
listen, some already did that walked beside me.
there's alot of things i don't understand,
why so many people lie.
its the hurt i hide inside that fuels the fire inside me.
will i always feel this way?
so empty, so estranged
