In a previous report on Ray LaMontagne’s split from longtime collaborator/producer Ethan Johns for his next LP, I neglected to point out that Johns did a rare run of solo performances this fall in the UK as one of Ray’s opening acts (the other was Josh Ritter).
That’s important to note because Johns, who is famous for producing Ryan Adams’ first two solo albums, LaMontagne, Crowded House, and many more, actually had a brief stint as a solo singer/songwriter before spending the majority of his career thus far behind the boards and/or drum kit.
Sure, some grainy YouTube vids provided something of a preview, but now Ethan Johns’ Three Crows Music site has added a new section for his solo project, Caballeros, where you can stream three, presumably self-produced, tracks from one of the best producers of the singer/songwriter genre in the game.
As audience applause makes apparent after each song, these are live takes, but they sound strangely like studio recordings as well (a la Neil Young’s “Needle and the Damage Done” on Harvest). Listen to “Hello Sunshine,” “Long Way Around,” and “21st Century Paranoid Blues” here.