By Tom Alesia

Canadian-American singer/songwriter Ray Bonneville

A one-man band, Ray Bonneville plays delicious bluesy Americana with guitar
and harmonica. He’s not in any rush, but his well-deep voice punctuates a sound that
emphasizes New Orleans influences. But Bonneville, at 75, isn’t taking it easy, releasing his 10th album, “On the Blind Side,” in 2023 – and he’s working on the next one. His debut album didn’t happen until he was in his 40s, but he developed a loyal following (which increased with streaming services) and became a critics’ favorite.
Bonneville returns to the Sugar Maple Music Festival for a late-afternoon set under the big tent on Saturday, August 3 at Lake Farm Park in Madison. He’ll also be at the Roots & Reasons side stage area at 6:40 p.m. See SugarMapleFest.org for ticket information and the full schedule.
In this interview, the Canadian-American singer/songwriter explored his extraordinary life.

Sugar Maple: You were 12 years old from Quebec and spoke only French, then
your big family moved to Boston. You went to an American school without
knowing English?
Bonneville: “Yes. I went into the eighth grade with no English. I only had the summer to
learn English from my neighbors.”
SM: How tough was it?
Bonneville: “It was challenging. Back then, I was kind of fearless. I just went with it.
What was unfortunate about it was they took my language barrier as some sort of
reason to put me in with some real unmotivated slow kids and left me there. That’s why I
got into trouble – and picked up the guitar. So, in a way, I’m grateful for it.”
SM: Who gave you the guitar?
Bonneville: “My mother. She didn’t play, but she saw my ear glued to the grill of the
radio when there was guitar music.”
SM: What did you think about having a guitar?
Bonneville: “I was thrilled about it. I just loved it. I took only one lesson, but I had a
chord book and I learned the first chords that were on the top of page one, book one.
Those are the chords I still play today.”

SM: Did you perform?
Bonneville: “I had a band in high school from 15 to 17. We played all the fraternity
houses in New England. We had a 1957 Cadillac ambulance to get around. We played
Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, the Kinks, Rolling Stones. All that stuff.””
SM: Then you signed up for the military at a young age during Vietnam.
Bonneville: “I was in the Marine Corps. They sent me to bootcamp when I was 17.
Basically, I was trying to get away from my father, who was a very authoritarian,
religious oppressor.”
SM: Is there any way to summarize your Vietnam experience?
Bonneville: “I was stationed in a combat zone in a place called Dong Ha, which was
close to the DMZ. I wasn’t off in the jungle, but I was subject to incoming fire a few times
each day – and never knowing where something would land. It took out a fair number of
personnel.”
SM: Was it difficult to overcome when you returned?
Bonneville: “It bothered me quite a bit.”
SM: Could you ever play music in Vietnam?
Bonneville: “In Vietnam, you could buy these very cheap plastic guitars from the same
people who could get you heroin. The plastic guitars would melt in a few weeks and
you’d buy another one. When I got out of Vietnam, I started playing again. I took up the
harmonica.”
SM: You then spent 20 years as a studio musician and live performer before
recording your own music. You did other jobs, too. One of the things that jumped
out from that period is the description that you played “rowdy rooms with blues
bands.” How rowdy?
Bonneville: “Really rowdy.”
SM: How?
Bonneville: “Always drunken. We played in a place in Colorado where there was no
law. Guys would shoot off guns. After 1978, I played in bands in the Rocky Mountains,
Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana. After that, I struck out on my own and
played in Alaska, New Orleans, Seattle, Boston and Paris.
SM: Still, some rowdy rooms. You meant it.

Bonneville: “At one point, I played five weeks straight, every night for four sets at the
Pipeline Club in Valdez, Alaska. That was one of the rowdiest places I’ve ever been.
There was a fight during each set. If they weren’t close to you, you kept playing.”
SM: Then you became a small plane pilot?
“In Boston, I flew planes that had advertising banners on the back. Then I flew sea
planes and that led to flying in the bush in Quebec, which I did for two years. But I was
always playing music.”
SM: Was it a tough job to be a bush pilot?
Bonneville: “You’re flying close to the ground and flying in bad weather. The reason I
started writing songs in my early 40s was that I scared myself so badly while flying in
some awful weather during the moose hunting season in Quebec.
That’s when I went to Boston to get an apartment and write songs. I wasn’t writing
before that. I was doing other people’s material my own way; I never tried to copy the
way they did it on the record. I took it and had my way with it. I developed my style.
Those 20 years, I consider to be school as a musician.”
SM: Did anyone say, “Mid-40s is too old to start as a solo artist”?
Bonneville: “No. And if they did, I would have ignored them.”
SM: Was it tough to write?
Bonneville: “I had to develop the nuance of the English language. I had learned to
speak it, but I read a couple of thousand books to immerse myself in the language and
become poetic with it. You only learn how to write by writing.”
SM: What’s it like touring now?
Bonneville: “I’m playing better rooms now. I’m slowing down on touring. I’m not doing
120 to 150 dates per year, which I used to do. Now I’m doing 50 dates a year. I still
enjoy the time on stage.”
SM: Are they good memories of paying your dues?
Bonneville: “Some memories were good. Others were, ‘What was I doing there?’ I’ve
played to no one, except the bartender. I played to two women in bowling shirts. I
played with a hockey game on the screen behind me. I’ve played every situation there
is.”
SM: Where do you live now?
Bonneville: “Off the north shore of Lake Superior, from May to October, in Canada. In
the winter, I’m in Austin, Texas.”

SM: In 2000, you won a Juno Award (the equivalent of Canada’s Grammy Awards)
for best blues album. The other Juno winners that year were Alanis Morissette,
Bryan Adams, Shania Twain and Sarah McLachlan. Wow.
Bonneville: “Those artists are good, but it’s just not what I listened to. I was more down
in the roots.”
SM: In 2021, you played part of a set here at the Sugar Maple Music Festival then
there was a torrential rain storm.
Bonneville: “Mary Battiata was after me and, during the storm, (Cajun musician) Joel
Savoy suggested we go to the back of the tent and play an impromptu acoustic jam.
That’s fun when you’re thrown a curve ball.”
SM: Do you still look forward to playing at 75?
Bonneville: “I love my time on stage! I’m still thrilled to play my songs. I’m so happy
that I play a setlist of my own songs.”

Check out this video for a sneek peek of the amazing performance coming up at Sugar Maple Saturday, August 3rd!