The Heir Apparent

There was a time when Ray LaMontagne was viewed as the heir apparent to Van Morrison or Jeff Buckley. Part of the Light shakes up those assumptions as the New Hampshire singer/songwriter balances the quiet, loud, and ethereal. Ray’s voice ripples and expands like a pebble splash in a quiet lake, so the vocal echo on “It’s Always Been You” adds a haunting contrail. “As Black as Blood Is Blue” hints that LaMontagne has some Metallica cassettes stashed in his attic. Meanwhile, the ballads here are gorgeously lethal. “Let’s Make It Last” might be Ray’s best one yet, perfect for a wedding first dance. The track represents the album’s exquisite beauty and message: Slow down and appreciate what’s truly important.

"From his first meeting with Copland, Bernstein regarded November 14 as a lucky date: and so it proved to be again in 1943… In August 1943 Artur Rodzinsky, the new music director of the New York Philharmonic, named Bernstein assistant conductor. On Sunday, November 14, 1943, guest conductor Bruno Walter fell ill. Bernstein was awakened that morning with the news that he would have to conduct the concert - on a national radio broadcast - without benefit of a rehearsal. As they say, the rest is history. Bu Monday, Leonard Bernstein was the heir apparent, the American most likely to success as a conductor in his own country, where the field was still dominated by foreign-born musicians"

Steven Ledbetter