Ray Bonneville and Seth Walker

On Friday April 19, 2024 , Swallow Hill Music will host two powerful performers, with one set by Seth Walker and one set by Ray Bonneville.
Ray Bonneville has been called a ‘poet of the demimonde,’ and with the release of his 10th album, On The Blind Side, he lives up to the name. Bonneville delivers nine originals with a voice that moves from soothing to troubling…depending on the direction of the song. He co-produced the record with Texas singer-songwriter/producer Will Sexton, who also plays on the album. While remaining accessible to the listener, this new group of songs represents a more introspective phase for Ray. With insights gained from isolation, Ray has emerged from the pandemic ready to share more of his life story, to draw from it creatively, to allow it to take him to new places and take his audience along with him.

A winner and three-time nominee of the coveted Juno Award, Bonneville has worked with the best in Americana and Blues music, performing on albums by Mary Gauthier, Gurf Morlix, Eliza Gilkyson, Ray Wylie Hubbard and others. He shares songwriting credits with the likes of Tim O’Brien, Phil Roy and Gurf Morlix. He has performed at renowned venues around the world, including South by Southwest, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, The Newport Folk Festival and plays over 100 shows per year across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. When not on the road, Ray divides his time between homes in Goulais River, Ontario and Austin, Texas.

Seth Walker is often cited as one of the most prolific contemporary Americana artists on the scene today. He’s a multi-dimensional talent who combines a gift for melody and lyric alongside a rich, Gospel-drenched, Southern-inflected voice with a true blue knack for getting around on the guitar. His new studio album, I Hope I Know, produced by Jano Rix of The Wood Brothers, and a string of singles, including “We Got This,” “Spirits Moving” and a cover of Van Morrison’s classic “Warm Love” further build upon this reputation.

In 2021, Walker added published author to his oeuvre with his first memoir, ‘Your Van Is On Fire.’ A riotous and charming melange of a touring musician’s life, the book is comprised of many short essays, poems and paintings he’d accumulated over a near 30-year career. Written during the pandemic lockdown, Walker offers a first hand account of an artist in perpetual motion who’s dedicated his life to chasing the muse wherever it may lead.