Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.
Ray LaMontagne was working in a shoe factory in Maine when he heard the calling.
Not from a religious deity. From Stephen Stills, specifically Stills' song "Treetop Flyer."
"When I heard that, I knew that I wanted to write songs. I just knew it," LaMontagne said. "I hadn't heard anything like it. Stuff like Poison, Slaughter, Motley Crue, was on the radio at the time, around '91, '92. And ("Treetop Flyer") just seemed so magical."
LaMontagne began to compose in his free time and a few years later, started performing at night on the local folk scene while working days as a carpenter. His musical aspirations were humble, to say the least.
"I never expected to make a living from it. It just wasn't a goal," LaMontagne, 32, said in a phone interview from a San Francisco hotel room this week. "I thought maybe it would be something to make a little extra money here and there, that I'd work part-time as a carpenter and part-time as a songwriter. But that's really all I expected."
Those modest plans changed when LaMontagne attracted the attention of Chrysalis Music -- which signed the singer-songwriter to a publishing contract -- and RCA Records, which inked him to a record deal and released his first album, last year's "Trouble."
LaMontagne's wild ride continued on Tuesday, when he embarked on a set of live dates as the opening act for the John Mayer Trio. The tour stops at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Saturday, with doors set to open at 6 p.m. Tickets, priced at $42.50, have been sold out for weeks.
"John and I have met a few times along the way. He's come to my shows, and I stopped by his studio one time to see what he was working on," LaMontagne said. "He's doing a different thing now with his trio, experimenting with the blues and his guitar playing, trying to reach new people. And he's playing the kinds of (smaller) places that I play (laughs)."
LaMontagne's aching folk tunes would seem an ideal match for such intimate clubs. His raspy, vulnerable voice draws frequent comparisons to Cat Stevens, Van Morrison and even Otis Redding, along with contemporaries such as M. Ward and Iron & Wine's Sam Beam.
Recorded in two weeks with the help of producer Ethan Johns (Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams), "Trouble" is a sparse, organic affair, filled with songs that reflect the heartache of LaMontagne's nomadic, impoverished childhood.
In other words, don't look for him to start crafting catchy pop songs to get his music in front of even more people.
"Some people can do it naturally, like John Mayer," LaMontagne said. "He doesn't have to try. That's just the way he writes. That's just him, expressing himself. But the way I express myself and put songs together is not really suited for mainstream radio."
LaMontagne, who was courted by several labels including Columbia, Warner Bros. and Universal, settled on RCA because its representatives seemed genuinely interested in his music.
"Once one major gets involved, they all get involved," he said. "So you have to trust your gut to see through the guys who are just there 'cause the next guy's there and pick out the guys that are there because they really enjoy what you're doing and want to be part of it. I felt like RCA was the real thing."
LaMontagne said RCA has lived up to its promises, though he admitted to feeling pressured to increase his album sales, which have already climbed close to 200,000 units.
"There's still a major-label mentality there that's a little difficult to get used to," he said. "They all want to sell a million, and if it's not a million they're not happy. I think 200,000 should be time to celebrate."
Quick hits
A look at a few of the shows scheduled to hit Southern Nevada in the next week:
Alt-metal band Taproot headlines Jillian's on Saturday, with support from a pair of local hard rock outfits, Magna Fi and the Ill Figures.
Doors to the all-ages show open at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
Gallagher alert! Brit-popsters Oasis return to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Best known for such mid-'90s hits as "Wonderwall," "Champagne Supernova" and "Don't Look Back in Anger," Oasis returned from a three-year recording hiatus with May's "Don't Believe the Truth." Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are joined on the tour by guitarist Gem Archer, bassist Andy Bell and drummer Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr.
England's Kasabian, which issued a promising, self-titled 2004 debut album, is slated to open.
Tickets are $70, $130 and $145.
Latin pop star Alejandro Fernandez celebrates Mexican Independence Day with a Thursday night show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $59 to $159.
On sale
Sheryl Crow brings a 12-piece string section to Las Vegas for a show at The Joint on Oct. 23. Tickets are $50 to $150 and go on sale at noon Saturday through the Hard Rock box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.
System of a Down lands at The Joint on Oct. 12. Tickets are $55 and go on sale at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Jamiroqui plays the House of Blues on Sept. 10. Tickets are $27 to $40 and go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday through the House of Blues box office and Ticketmaster.
Trapt hits the House of Blues on Nov. 15, with opening acts Blindside and Aphasia. Tickets are $17 and go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
HIM headlines the House of Blues on Oct. 12 with support from Finch and Skindred. Tickets are $24 and $27 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.
CKY stops at the House of Blues on Nov. 18. Tickets are $15 and are on sale now.
Tickets for the bulk of the "Vegoose at Night" concert series go on sale at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.
The shows are: Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at the Aladdin on Oct. 28 ($50); Trey Anastasio at the Aladdin on Oct. 28 ($36.19); Phil Lesh and Friends at The Joint on Oct. 30 ($38.50); Ween at The Joint on Oct. 31 ($31.50); Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the House of Blues on Oct. 29 ($22); and Galactic at the House of Blues on Oct. 30 ($22).
Tickets are available through individual venue box offices and Ticketmaster.
The moe. "Vegoose at Night" performance, originally slated for the House of Blues on Oct. 28, has been moved to the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts on Oct. 29. Ticket information had not been released at press time.
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