12. Ray LamontagneOuroboros
This record affected my life in a massive way. I started writing my last album and going back and forth from New Orleans and LA when this came out, I was reading some of the write-ups on it and decided to check it out and I completely fell in love with it. It’s eight songs, two movements and each side is a whole movement. I don’t really know any of his earlier stuff, but I was going through a really hard time and still reeling from a break-up – I’d started dating this other guy which had turned out he was married(!) and didn’t tell me. It was all horrible and such a bad vibe, plus Bowie had just died and Prince had just died – it was just such a strange moment. So, I would go into my library and just put this on and sit there and stare at the wall. In New Orleans I’d started to make a bunch of demos for an album and I was in the shower one day, and it occurred to me that I had nobody to produce it and I didn’t know how I was gonna actually get the record made, so I thought I would just look at this album’s credits and see where this was recorded and who did it. That’s how I met Kevin Ratterman and basically my whole band that made my record with me. My solo album is the same people who made this Ray Lamontagne record. It’s funny – I wouldn’t have my record the way it is without this album. So, this album not only affected me emotionally but also creatively.
