You can tell by his scruffy beard and his Deadwood vests that Ray LaMontagne's no city boy. And just in case you still weren't sure, there's a song on his new record called "New York City's Killing Me," and he's dropped the "g" from "willing" in his album title, so you can hear a little country in there.

On his first self-produced album, the music's a little more rustic, echoing the earth tones of LaMontagne's western Massachusetts farmhouse, where it was recorded. His band the Pariah Dogs add a little banjo and slide guitar to LaMontagne's folk-blues boogie, while the singer pays homage to living out where he can see the "big yellow moon risin' up over them hills," where he always has "tomatoes on the griddle to fry." Safe to say there's no Facebook-checking in these songs: LaMontagne seems to long for some distant era when men could enjoy their isolation. Say, the 1970s: "Old Before Your Time" could be a lost Lindsey Buckingham track, and "For the Summer" cops its melody from Neil Young's "Old Man." And yet, for a guy who's stranded up there in them hills, he can sure write a love song. It's just… read more »