Stitching together an overwhelming cloth pattern of emotions to go along with his sandpapery voice and slow, soft hypnotizing tunes, singer/songwriter Ray LaMontagne has been captivating throngs of American audiences since the early 2000s, driving out hit songs and hyped-about albums that have become the standard in contemporary folk music.

LaMontagne lived quite the nomadic life in his younger years, moving around frequently with his single mother and five siblings at every employment and/or housing obstacle put in the family's way. The young musician's schooling undoubtedly suffered from this source of instability in his youth, but he actually did finish high school, continuing on to work at a shoe factory in Maine. While at the factory, LaMontagne had an epiphany one day when he heard folk-rock singer Stephen Stills belt out his hit single "Tree Top Flyer." Pinpointing his future to that very song, LaMontagne dreamt up his career plan: to become a famous singer and a musician.

By the late 1990s LaMontagne had channeled all of his energy into his music, and finally in 1999 he released a 10-song demo tape of his songs, which found their way to Chrysalis Music Publishing's Jamie Ceretta. Ceretta and Chrysalis immediately signed the budding musician to the music label, allowing LaMontagne to work with producer Ethan Johns in creating his very first album Trouble. The album was eventually picked up by RCA Records and re-released in 2004 to great acclaim, the artist's Tim Buckley-esque vocals and emotional style leading to a number nine charting album on the Top Heatseekers board. The title track from the album propelled the album into further success, and LaMontagne's follow-up album Till the Sun Turns Black premiered in 2006, followed by his most recent release, 2008's Gossip in the Grain.