Raconteur Ray Bonneville is known for his stripped-down bluesy Americana music steeped in the humid grooves of the south U.S.
The Juno Award-winner will play a concert at Knox United Church in Parksville on April 14.
His lyrics draw on the experience of hard living and deep feeling, according to his website bio. Bonneville's ninth album, At King Electric, includes songs such as 'The Next Card to Fall' and 'Codeine', which feature intimate narratives of characters reaching for hope and wrestling with despair.
Born in Quebec, he moved to Boston at 12 years old, where he learned English and picked up piano and guitar. Later, he served in Vietnam and earned a pilot’s license in Colorado before living in Alaska, Seattle, New Orleans and Paris, according to his bio.
After two decades working as a studio musician, playing rowdy rooms with blues bands, Bonneville decided to write his own music.
He recorded his first album, On the Main, in 1992 and has since released nine albums to critical acclaim, including a Juno for his 1999 album, Gust of Wind.
In 2012, Bonneville won the solo/duet category in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. His post-Katrina ode, “I Am the Big Easy,” earned the International Folk Alliance’s 2009 Song of the Year Award and was placed number one on Folk Radio’s list of most-played songs of 2008.
He has performed around the world, including at the South by Southwest festival, Folk Alliance and Montreal International Jazz Festival, and plays over 100 shows per year across the U.S., Canada and Europe.
His concert in Parksville starts at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Knox United Church is located at 345 Pym St.
Tickets are $30, available online through Eventbrite or with cash at local businesses Close to You Boutique, Edge Outdoors and Fireside Books.
