About the Artists

Raymond J. Bonneville (born October 11, 1948) is a Canadian-born American musician, singer and songwriter. Born in Canada, and raised in the United States, Bonneville is a folk and blues-influenced, song and groove man who is strongly influenced by New Orleans, Louisiana.[1]

An acclaimed raconteur, Ray strips his bluesy Americana down to its essentials and steeps it in the humid grooves of the South, creating a compelling poetry of hard living and deep feeling.

Jim Withers (Montreal Gazette) describes his sound as “folk-roots gumbo… a languid Mississippi Delta groove, seasoned with smooth, weathered vocals and a propulsive harmonica wheeze.” Whether performing solo or fronting a band, playing electric or acoustic guitar, Bonneville allows space between notes that adds potency to every chord, lick, and lyric. Thom Jurek (Allmusic.com) remarks, “With darkness and light fighting for dominance… he’s stripped away every musical excess to let the songs speak for themselves.”

Often called a “song and groove man,” Bonneville has lived the life of the itinerant artist. To learn more about that, come to the show or read further on his website.

About the Venue

The Cafe Carpe, is a family-friendly cafe and bar (with no TVs), housed in a century-old brick building on the Rock River, with a separate listening room and a screened porch overlooking the water. Run by fairly sentient centenarians Bill Camplin and Kitty Welch, the Carpe has been idiosyncratic since 1985. Peruse this site to learn its fascinating history, and to discover what it has to offer, and when, but do not ask why.