Gust of Wind
Ray Bonneville
Stony Plain
1999
11 tracks
The blues of Ray Bonneville are carried aloft on an evening breeze. Where the rocking sounds of many of today's blues artists evoke the smokey half-light of a downtown barroom, Bonneville's songs shine like a sunlit back porch jam on the prairies or a caribbean beach. The half-light in which these blues bask is of a red setting sun in the west and the smoke rises seductively from a campfire nearby. It's not surprising that Ray Bonneville is one of the few blues artists to play the folk music festival circuit.
Bonneville brings a variety of influences to his music. A careful listener can hear echoes of early Elvis Presley ("That's Why") and Roy Orbison ("Oh It's You"). "The Changing Sky" has a definite Bob Dylan sound. Some songs verge on pop ("Gust of Wind" or "Oh it's You") and some flirt with country ("Foolish" or "Listen"). "Canary Yellow Car" sounds very much like a popular blues straight out of the Twenties and "Darlin' Don't Forget" brings back the blues edge of swing.
Two forces bring unity to this eclectic brew. Whatever other influences may slip into the mix, every song is deeply rooted in the blues. And Ray Bonneville brings to the blues what Jimmy Buffett brought to country, the sultry rhythms of the caribbean that pervade many of the songs on this release.
Bonneville appears to have a broader understanding of what constitutes the blues than do many of his contemporaries. Many blues artists play what I would, for want of a better term, call black blues: the acoustic blues of the Mississippi delta and the southern United States or the rocking electric blues that grew up in the Forties and Fifties. Often ignored is the white or country blues popularized by Jimmie Rodgers and others. Bonneville's style is more along the lines of this white blues, but heavily spiced with black blues, the New Orleans sound, and popular blues forms. The result is an impressive stylistic fait accompli. Bonneville's blues style is uniquely his own.
Bonneville's lyrics stand out not just as blues lyrics but as stylish stories told simply but with emotional depth. These are not the formulaic blues lyrics one often expects, but the work of a Canadian blues poet.
Gust of Wind was produced by contemporary blues idol Colin Linden, who also performed on many of the tracks. What Linden's influence was on the final sound of this release is anyone's guess. The sound is clearly Bonneville's and the bond between Bonneville and Linden's input is seamless and polished. It says a lot for Bonneville's talent, though, that this Canadian legend has contributed his own talent to Gust of Wind.
Ray Bonneville's Gust of Wind presents a selection of warm, intelligent blues by a Canadian stylist who deserves to be better known than he has been to date. This release will be a welcome and refreshing addition to any blues collection.
Also read a review of Ray Bonneville's 1996 recording Solid Ground.
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