Ray LaMontagne - Long Way Home [Indie Exclusive, Eruption]

Twenty years into his career, Ray LaMontagne walked away from the major label system and made a record entirely on his own terms. Long Way Home, released in August 2024, is his ninth studio album and the first on his own Liula Records, and it sounds like a songwriter who has stopped needing to prove anything.

Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Seth Kauffman, it is a compact set of nine songs that drift between country soul, front-porch folk and sun-faded 1970s rock. The opener "Step Into Your Power" rides a gospel-tinged groove and went to number one at adult alternative radio, his third song to do so. "I Wouldn't Change a Thing" floats on Carl Broemel's pedal steel, "And They Called Her California" and "My Lady Fair" are pure warm nostalgia, and the instrumental "So, Damned, Blue" sets up the reflective title track that closes the album.

Reviewers heard an artist more comfortable and contented than ever, and many called it his most honest and reflective work.

This indie exclusive edition is pressed on red marbled "Eruption" vinyl and comes with a printed credit inner sleeve.