Ray LaMontagne Unveils Ninth Studio Album ‘Long Way Home,’ Plots US Headline Tour
Photo Credit: Brian Stowell
At long last, Ray LaMontagne has returned to the spotlight to announce Long Way Home, the esteemed singer-songwriter’s ninth studio album, set to release on August 16 via his newly-minted independent label Liula Records. In his first full-length offering since 2020’s Monovision, the Grammy-winning artist sets his sights on the path he’s traveled and the road left to run, reflecting on the charm and portent of a past left far behind and a future still left to find. To support this long-awaited release, LaMontagne has plotted a nine-stop solo headline tour, which will bring the musician across the South from mid to late September.
In a retrospective mood, LaMontagne found the heart of his latest song cycle by tunneling far into his youth and reliving his first time seeing the great Townes Van Zandt perform. He remembers a line from “To Live Is to Fly” echoing in his head: “When where you been is good and gone/ All you keep is the getting there.” “Thirty years later it occurs to me that every song on Long Way Home is in one way or another honoring the journey,” the artist offers in a release, tying his story together. “The languorous days of youth and innocence. The countless battles of adulthood, some won, more often lost. It’s been a long hard road, and I wouldn’t change a minute. It took me nine songs to express what Townes managed to say in one line. I guess I still got a lot to learn.”
Beyond its lyrical journey, Long Way Home charts the flowering of the modern folk form on the sonic level, recalling the genre’s roots in the revival of the early ‘70s with LaMontagne’s singularly timeless and pioneering approach to Americana storytelling. Produced in collaboration with Seth Kauffman–who has delivered landmark entries from Angel Olsen, Lana Del Rey and more–the album fits the artist’s stirring narratives to a rich, poetic meditation on life as it’s lived, featuring contributions from friends like The Secret Sisters, who add backing vocals to three tracks. The lead single “Step Into Your Power” will release on Wednesday, June 5, alongside a music video created by LaMontagne with his son, Tobias. The first track is available to presave now, and presave and preorder options for the larger album will arrive with the single.
LaMontagne will support his latest offering with a nine-show 2024 headline tour, highlighted by engagements at Austin, Texas’ ACL Live at the Moody Theater on Sept. 19, New Orleans’ Orpheum Theatre on Sept 21 and Orlando, Fla.’s Steinmetz Hall at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 28. For this fall run, the singer-songwriter will be joined by The Secret Sisters. Fans can access an artist presale for tickets tomorrow, June 4, at 10 a.m. local time. General on-sale will begin this Friday, June 7, at 10 a.m. local.
For more information on LaMontagne and Long Way Home, visit raylamontagne.com. Read on for the album’s tracklist.
Ray LaMontagne – Long Way Home
1. Step Into Your Power
2. I Wouldn’t Change A Thing
3. Yearning
4. And They Called Her California
5. La De Dum, La De Da
6. My Lady Fair
7. The Way Things Are
8. So, Damned, Blue
9. Long Way Home
