XPN Welcomes Ray LaMontagne with Jason Isbell to Susquehanna Bank Center on June 7th

Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is playing the Susquehanna Bank Center on June 7th, with singer-songwriter Jason Isbell opening. Tickets go on sale this coming Friday, March 14th at Noon. His new album, Supernova, produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys is out on May 6th. It’s been four years since Lamontagne’s last album, the Grammy award winning God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise, and fans are hungry with anticipation for the new album. The first single, and title track, “Supernova,” finds Lamontagne in an upbeat and poppy mood, influenced by his work with Auerbach. According to Rolling Stone magazine:

LaMontagne sent demos to the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who he’d been trying to work with for five years. “It takes years to get this shit together, but he had a slot open, so we just did it,” says LaMontagne. Last fall, they hit Auerbach’s tiny Nashville studio for three weeks with the producer’s favorite studio musicians. “For me, it’s hard to beat the kind of urgency that comes from that kind of recording,” says Auerbach. “Of course, Ray is such a tremendous singer, but he also never sings it the same way twice. Capturing that moment was key.”
Auerbach’s stamp is on plenty of the expansive, jam-ready arrangements. There are spooky backup choruses, organs and swampy riffs on “Drive in Movies,” which features a Sixties Brit-pop melody (the track is about LaMontagne’s teenage years in Nebraska). But Supernova’s highlight is “Pick Up a Gun,” a psychedelic acoustic heartbreak waltz with four key changes.

Below, listen to “Supernova,” by LaMontagne, and “Relatively Easy” by Jason Isbell.