God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise: Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs

Leslie Armstrong
Contributor
If you take the best elements of country, add some raspy vocals and throw in a little folk rock, you’ve got American singer-songwriter Ray Lamontagne. Lamontagne paired with The Pariah Dogs to release his fourth album, God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise, in mid-August.
The album’s opening track, “Repo Man,” is nicely layered with funky percussion beats. Although it’s stylistically inconsistent, the tambourine and drum licks know where they ought to be. The energy subsides and the album simmers from this point onward, driven by strummed acoustics and Lamontagne’s soft, husky voice, which is somewhat reminiscent of M. Ward.
You can listen to track five, “Are We Really Through,” to get a sense of the tone. The guitar accompanying Lamontagne’s glowing vocals is sparse, and works to good effect.
The album’s atmosphere is mostly light and earthy, as most songs tend toward major chords, with sentiments of optimism and introspection. While his writing may not be Bob Dylan material, Lamontagne leaves us with grains of wisdom: “There’s nothin’ in the world so sad as talking to a man / Who never knew his life was for making,” he sings in track seven, “Old Before Your Time.”
Lamontagne sings like he means it: he can belt as well as he can croon, with no inhibitions. His reaction to the limelight seems contradictory. You’ll find a series of awkward interviews on the web where he provides unconstructive answers at barely a whisper, and the shy, soft-spoken artist used to play with his back to the audience at shows.
Lamontagne’s talent is all too present. His vocals remain as unique as ever, but compositionally, each piece is ordinary compared to the material on his last album, Gossip in the Grain. Could it be that The Pariah Dogs are weighing him down?
Dogs in or dogs out, I’d still lis- ten to this album just to hear Lamontagne sing.