Ray LaMontagne

LaMontagne, a father of two living in rural Maine, had an epiphany one morning upon waking up to his radio alarm clock playing Stephen Stills' "Treetop Flyer." He did not go into work that day. Instead he began his songwriting career and hasn't looked back. Chrysalis recognized how special LaMontagne was, so they took the very unusual step of producing an album themselves and, after a bidding war, found a home for LaMontagne's beautiful, passionate Trouble at RCA Records. —JB