Live review: Ray LaMontagne, Jenny Lewis and Blitzen Trapper at the Hollywood Bowl

During his headlining set at KCRW's World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night, Maine-based singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne used his yearning, raspy voice and barely there folk strumming to induce maximum snuggling among the assembled couples.

But just as the wine and warm night air made all seem tender and amorous, LaMontagne would drop a lyric like this from "Winter Birds": "The kettle sings its tortured songs / A many petaled kiss I place upon her brow / Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now."

The pairing of LaMontagne and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra with Jenny Lewis -- the saucy siren whose 2008 album, "Acid Tongue," was one of the year's most barbed records -- only affirmed how he's something of an R. Kelly for bearded indie-folkers.

LaMontagne's not without his talents. He's quite a nimble vocalist, especially when he dips into New Orleans jazz and scruffy blue-eyed soul. But as a document of today's crossover folk music, his set proved that abject sincerity is the new Auto-Tune, a device used to such a great degree that it's lost all novelty and impact.

After an early opening set from the eclectic Portland, Ore.,  alt-country act Blitzen Trapper, Lewis took to the Bowl with an air of inevitability. Los Angeles is the central character in many of her lyrics, and her clear alto has a "Ladies of the Canyon" witchiness. But her real source material is the tough-as-leather country of Patsy Cline.

Her smallish backing band, with boyfriend Johnathan Rice on guitar, made an Opry-sized racket and proved that a full-time tambourine player and harmonist is a useful asset. "You Are What You Love" was a spry catalog of romantic misadventures, and the sprawling "Jack Killed Mom" demonstrated Lewis' skill with a long, menacing story-song.

There's an arched eyebrow to her sensibility that grounded even her more throwback, CSNY-leaning tunes such as "Sing a Song for Them" and "Acid Tongue" in hard-won truths.

At first glance, LaMontagne appeared to be up to something similar. The tangles of his beard, the wisp of his vocals, the specificity of his lyrics -- all double down on homespun authenticity as the highest virtue for a songwriter. With the Bowl's orchestra, the first few songs had an appealingly sylvan quality.

But his barrage of imagery grew more false with each passing tune. In his lyrics, LaMontagne can't just be a bit of a liar, he has to have "cracked and dusty dime store lips." A lover can't be quietly distressed, instead it "seems like everywhere you turn, catastrophe it reigns."

LaMontagne was better when he dropped the aching lumberjack act and swung a bit farther south for influences. "Hey Me, Hey Mama" was rousing, swampy Cajun swing, and he was harrowing on darker cuts such as "Till The Sun Turns Black." But where Nick Drake's visions of pink moons trailed him to a sad, young death, LaMontagne's demons never seem to follow him farther than a farmhouse kitchen, where the kettle is always on, something warm is in the oven and a good woman is ready to overlook all your shortcomings.

Comforting stuff, but nothing like folk music at all.

--August Brown

Photo credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Mirrorball]

The review fails to mention that the orchestral backing of Ray's band was spectacular! Unlike the Death Cab show last weekend where the LA Phil was woefully underutilized for only a small portion of the set AND overpowered by DCfC's volume, Ray used the orchestra for his entire set, and the orchestra and band were beautifully mixed together. Also, conductor David Campbell stood in front of all performers so it appeared he was conducting all the musicians including the headline band, unlike Death Cab where Campbell and the LA Phil were behind the Band, such that Campbell and DCfC each had their backs to the other, making it more difficult to cue on what the other was doing.

This is not a diss on DCfC; just a point of perspective on how the orchestral accompaniment was better delivered by Ray. I thought it was a great triple bill and a great show!

[Howard]

Maybe it's just LA and hating on stuff is kind of our local pastime. Or maybe it's just easier to pick on Mr. Lamontagne's lyrics as being too loaded with "imagery" or to caricature him as a "sad lumberjack" than to see his show for what it was which was inspired, beautiful and everything that's right about music today. Same goes for Blitzen Trapper but I guess that was too "early" to merit a review. Bang up job, Times.

[ChaCha1968]

Based on this review, I must have been at a different concert than the one attended by the LAT's reviewer. Ray LaMontagne and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra collaboration was amazing and cohesive. The orchestra beautifully wrought out the emotions behind LaMontagne's lyrics. Going forward, it would best if the LAT got a reviewer that didn't have a bias against the artist songs and feels that he/she is the authority on what the indie rock/folk music genre should be. The audience were enthusiastically engaged and had a great evening.

[Carl Gato]

This is just an awful review. Commenting on Ray's lyrics and simplicity as defects is like calling out a dog for barking. It is not surprising that the Times doesn't back a performance that is not about Twitter, celebrity, pyrotechnics, licorice, Cialis or 'beats.'

When you have an entire crowd leaving a show completely satisfied and the reviewer paints the picture of a tired and indulgent show, you have failed at your job.

Boo LAT. Yet again.....

[Eileen]

It seems an unwritten code that a review is not a review unless it finds something wrong. Just like an amateur writers' group where people think they have to find something wrong to sound intelligent. While it's a given that music and art are subjective tastes, to say that Ray's music is "comforting stuff but nothing like folk music at all" tells me the reviewer just doesn't get Ray. Ray makes love with his voice. He sings from his soul and one can't help but feel it deeply. Maybe that's why the audience went nuts, begging for an encore. We couldn't get enough of him.

[Marie]

I agree with cha cha. This review was not a concert review, it was a review of a musical genre that does not translate as well in LA as the rest of the country. Performance wise, Jenny Lewis was trying too hard to be like June Carter at the Opry, while Ray La Montagne was trying to foster a little too much mystique than I think was appreciated by the adoring audience. Overall, Lamontagne's performace pleased those watching, including myself, who expect the voice heard on the record to trancsend somewhat seemlessly into performace, however the LA phil was unfortunately extremely out of tune and disjunct on the first two pieces. As the concert continued, it was clear that those two beginning songs were perhaps just underprepared since the other peices came together very nicely. In sum, this concert was enjoyable if you enjoy these artists. Their performances were decent, and while this kind of yippie folk genre may come across contrived, it obviously has a fan base willing to be carried off to Lamontagne's farm and Jenny Lewis' Opry, and therefore this music should not be dismissed.

[David Kepner]

this writer is a joke.