Ray LaMontagne & David Gray at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, MA (8/17/10 - Show 1 of 2)

I had never seen either of these musicians live, but I have been a HUGE fan of both for as long as I can remember. Working in the music industry all day every day, I, at times, become quite tired of the business and all of the stress that comes along with it - however, watching these two gentlemen do exactly what they were put on this earth to do was a breath of fresh air.

Ray was a humble, down to earth, appreciative person (don't get me wrong, so was David). He seemed really moved every time any one clapped or cheered for one of his songs. I do not think I can remember being part of an audience that gave the first (major) act on the bill a standing ovation halfway through their set! I have to admit that after hearing several of his newer songs / songs that I am not too familiar with - they started to sound a little bit the same, BUT the songs that I was more familiar with were performed with such great energy and precision that nobody in the audience could have been disappointed. Highlights (and there were many) included Trouble, Beg Steal or Borrow, You Are The Best Thing, and of course, Shelter.

David came out with a bit more of a bang. There was a white sheet that covered the stage during the set change and it dropped down when he started singing the first song (you could see his silhouette through it when the band started and through the first few chords of the tune - Fugitive). I have been listening to David since high school - he was one of the biggest inspirations to me as a musician and I am so happy that I was finally able to see him perform. The passion and dead-on musicianship that he has is like none-other that is out there today. He does not get wrapped up in all of the pop-culture BS that so many musicians are distracted by (perhaps it's because he is not from the states??) - and because of this, I think, he is able to concentrate more on being a terrific musician. I was not disappointed with anything that he played last night. I am not familiar with all of his newer material - but after hearing it last night, I will be purchasing pretty much the entire setlist from last night's show. Highlights (and as with Ray, there were many) included Other Side, Jackdaw, Nemesis, Shine (solo acoustic - incredible), This Years Love (he forgot the words at one point, but we did not care!!), Please Forgive Me (unbelievable).

Regarding Nemesis - David said that they have been having a lot of fun with this tune on the road for the past year or so...stretching it out to over 10 minutes. It was not that long tonight, but it was the longest "jam" of the evening. With a lot of "jam bands" - I know that David is NOT a "jam band" by any means, but I am just using that for comparison's sake - after a really long jam I sometimes tend to get a bit bored by what the musicians are coming up with as they get further and further into their improvisation. With this song (Nemesis), however, every time that I began to think, "OK - I get what he is doing here, time to move on to the next idea" BAM - he brought the tune to a new place. It was always so fresh and different that I did not lose interest at any point in the song.


After David played Babylon for an encore he brought Ray out for a duo acoustic encore on a song that I had not heard before - or maybe I have, but I just did not recognize it / hear the name of it clearly over the ROAR of the crowd when Ray stepped back on the stage. My only complaint about the entire show is that I wish they had played a more recognizable tune - I know that they hit all of their classics in each of their respective sets, so it would have been hard to play an original (although Ray's Jolene or David's Say Hello Wave Goodbye would have been terrific) - but they could have used that opportunity to raise the bar even higher (HOW HIGH COULD IT GET???!!!) and do a cover song that none of us would have imagined.

All in all, it was an incredible night with two incredible people who gave us a gift that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. I hope they continue to tour together in the future, because David Gray and Ray LaMontagne are giving the word "concert" a brand new meaning.

August 2010 News - TWO NEW SONGS!

Hi, Everyone –

WOW – it’s been while…about a year, in fact.

I have been up to many exciting things, but I am mainly writing to tell you that I have TWO NEW SONGS that I have just released!!

It has been two years since I released “Rich With Love” – in the summer of 2008 – and FOUR years since I released “Nowhere To Go But Up.” I know it is cliché, but time surely does fly…

I did not want to go any longer before releasing some new music, so I took the two songs we recorded while in the studio for “Rich With Love,” but did not put on the album, sent them across the country to California where my good friend and former bandmate Wes now lives and asked him to make them sound pretty – I think he did a great job (thanks, Wes)!!

The first song, “Hanging Over,” is a tune that I wrote when I was a teenager. I performed it many times with my college band, The Shanty Band, and brought it back to life with my trio as we performed around New England. I wrote about a silly experience that many of us have been through before and put it to some darker music…I have always loved the groove and the piano part of this song. It’s a blast to play and Wes has done a terrific job of polishing it up.

The second song, “Rest In Peace,” has never been released before. As you can gather from the title, it’s a serious song, but when listened to within the context of the music, it becomes pretty uplifting and positive. I wrote it about the pastor at the church I attended growing up who passed away a couple of years ago after a lengthy battle with cancer. As you will hear in the song, he taught me many life lessons and was a great mentor to me.

The songs are available from my page on BandCamp.com (a great site for music lovers – so be sure to check it out). As a token of my appreciation for the support that everyone has given me over the past 5 years as a performing musician, I am offering both of these songs as FREE downloads. However, if you would like to “put a little money in the hat,” Band Camp gives you the option of paying what you feel like paying for the music. Any and all proceeds that I receive from the sale of both songs will go to the American Cancer Society.

http://benwillmottmusic.bandcamp.com/

Other Updates:

As you can probably tell, I have not been performing too many shows as of late – I have been very busy at my day job in the music biz…excuses, excuses, I know… Needless to say, there is much going on. I am not certain what the future holds for me in the way of performances, and while I have enjoyed the hiatus, I can say that I will always be involved with music on some level or another.

I am hoping to dive into a bit of entertainment consultation and production and will operate under my By The Way Music production company name for that. I may look to take on a few artists who are first getting started in their performing careers, so if you know of anyone who I might be interested in working with, then please write me back and let me know! After the past several years of doing it all myself (writing, producing, recording, booking, promoting, and performing), I have learned many lessons about what it takes to be successful in today’s music industry and also have many pointers on what does not work!! I feel that my experiences and advice might be beneficial to other musicians who are in the same boat as I was when I first began performing live in Boston 5 years ago next month.

I will continue to update everyone from time to time via this email list and my social networking sites, but if at any point you do not want to receive these updates, or perhaps just want fewer updates, then feel free to unsubscribe from my list or just follow me on Facebook / MySpace / Twitter. I am not a very good “tweeter” right now, but perhaps I will get into that more in the future…

Thank you again for all of your support and interest over these past years. I would not have been able to get as far as I have without you all behind me. If at any time you want to reach out with questions or just to say HI, then feel free. I always love receiving messages…

All the best (and enjoy the rest of your summer!!) –

Ben Willmott

Official Site -- http://benwillmottmusic.com
Rich With Love -- http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/willmott4
Nowhere To Go But Up -- http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/willmott3

PS - Please be sure to check out my good friend, and fellow musician, Kevin Griffin’s new album “The Evidence Against Me.” I performed piano on a few of the tracks (She, Randall, Sail On), but don’t just listen to those…the entire album is terrific. I have known Kevin for almost 5 years now and am blown away every time I hear him. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/KevinGriffin1

Randall

My friend Kevin Griffin has released another track in his weekly "Facebook CD Release Party" - Randall - this is another tune that I played piano on and another tune that I love from his terrific album "The Evidence Against Me." Please head over to Kevin's Facebook page and have a listen!

It has been a treat being a part of somebody else's project. It gives me, as a musician, a different perspective on the process and a boat load of ideas for my future recordings...

Speaking of future recordings, I will be releasing a couple new tunes in the coming week!! For the most up-to-date information on my music, please consider joining my mailing list or becoming a "fan" of mine on Facebook. Thank you for the support and interest.

She

A week or so ago I wrote about my good friend Kevin Griffin's new album "The Evidence Against Me" and how I performed piano on a couple of the songs on that album. Well...one of the songs that I played on, "She," has now been released as a FREE (that's right, FREE!!) download from Kevin's CD Baby page. It's only available for FREE this week though, so be sure to head over to CD Baby and download it TODAY! While you are there, you should check out the rest of the album as well and consider downloading it too. It's a terrific release.

PS - Kevin's wife, Laura, just had their second baby girl, so it sure has been a big week for her! A song in her honor AND a new child! Congrats, Kev and Laura!

The Evidence Against Me

My friend and fellow musician, Kevin Griffin, just released a new album titled "The Evidence Against Me." I played piano on a few of the songs on this new release (She, Randall, Sail On), but besides that, I am encouraging you to check it out because it is terrific music. Kev's songs are simple, yet catchy and beautiful...all at the same time. I hope you head over to listen to his album because I know that you will be glad that you did...

Kevin writes on his Facebook page, "I’ve got a CD’s worth of new songs recorded and I want to have a CD release party. So I’m going to have it right here on FB (Facebook). So every Wednesday, I’m going to post a song for you to check out. If you like it, you can click “Buy” and it will take you to CDBABY.com where I’ve set it for $0.00 so you can just download it for free."

This is a great idea and I encourage you all to check out this week's free download the "CiCi Song" on Kevin's CD Baby album page . It's a great tune.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (that's what not having a wad of chewed gum in my hand means to me)

Well, this post has nothing really to do with music, but more about just showing some respect and dignity towards other people...although, I guess on some level it really does filter through to the music industry as well...

This morning I had to put a letter in the mail. There is a mailbox at the end of my street where I usually drop my mail in when I am waiting for the red light to change. It is also apparently a school bus stop...or some kind of meeting place for younger people...this morning there were about 15 kids hanging out on the corner; I imagine waiting for the bus.

Anyway, I saw two boys standing around the mailbox which was not near any of the other kids who were standing on the corner. I thought to myself..."hmmmm...that's kind of strange. Why would they be standing by the mailbox so far away from their peers? I'll have to say excuse me, so that they will move out of the way and I can put my letter in." I was actually a bit nervous because who knew if they would be friendly to me or how they would react. First and foremost, don't you think that it's kind of sad for me to have that opinion of two kids I know nothing at all about? For all I knew, they could be nice boys more than willing to help a poor schmuck out who is just trying to get to work on time...

SO I stopped my car, got out, and started walking over to the mailbox...sure enough, when they saw me coming, they walked away from the mailbox, turned their backs on me, and started chuckling to themselves... OH GREAT, what is my fly down or something?? I reached out to pull down the handle of the mailbox, wrapped my hand around it, thought it felt kind of sticky and soft...and there in my hand WAS A BIG WAD OF CHEWED GUM.

Those two boys proved me correct in my thinking that they would do something inconsiderate to me and decided to put a mouthful of bubblicious on the handle of the mailbox. Of course they did. Why not? They timed it perfectly too because I was just rolling up to the corner as they were finishing the job.

I don't ask for a lot. All that I really care is that people treat me with the same sort of respect and dignity that I think I treat them with. I would never in a million years think about putting gum on the handle of a mailbox, just to anger someone who is dropping a bill in the mail.

I refuse to say that there is something the matter with today's youth, as most would after having this happen to them. I do not want to stereotype and over generalize by saying that there is a problem with kids these days...because I do know that not all children would do something like that, BUT I did actually think that they would treat me badly before I even got out of the car. Imagine the next time I encounter a situation like that? Do you think I am going to think twice about getting out of my car and stepping into a situation where I could possibly have a pile of bacteria infested nastiness plopped in my hand?

I don't really know why I am writing this entry except to just ask that we all take a step back and think about how our actions impact those around us. I am not even asking whoever reads this to go out of their way to do something to help someone else...although I do believe that if you do nice things for others, then you will in turn be rewarded at some point... I am only requesting that you do not go out of your way to ruin someone's morning. I don't think that is much to ask.

Oh yes, and as for the boys, well...I just let it go. They knew that I knew they did it and one day, I hope, they will learn their lesson... and besides, I didn't think that it would look too good for me to throw down with a junior high school kid in the middle of the street.

Renee & Jeremy

Renee & Jeremy say that they perform "Music for Children of All Ages," but I think that they play music for people of all ages. They are terrific - I came across them when a few people suggested that I start writing children's songs. They have such beautiful melodies (their company is "One Melody Records" -- I love that), their chemistry is terrific, and the songs are simple, yet hit on points that we all can relate to. Following is one my favorites of theirs; I hope you will check it out...