Ray LaMontagne’s third studio album produced by Ethan Johns, Gossip in the Grain, has delivered well to those looking to hear more of LaMontagne’s soulful, bluesy vocals.

The album as a whole has a similar feel to LaMontagne’s 2006 release Till the Sun Turns Black, with the combination of horns, strings, and of course, his classic acoustic sound.  There is a mixed mood across the tracks that range from upbeat rhythms under lyrics that are all about good feelings to heart-wrenching acoustic numbers that make you contemplate whether any relationship will ever, ever be worth whatever Mr. LaMontagne was going through when he wrote them.

Stylistically, Gossip in the Grain displays LaMontagne’s creativity in combining southern blues, folk and western sounds throughout a few songs that are unique amidst a few others that you think you may have heard before.

“You are the Best Thing,” the albums single, stands out from the rest of the album for its optimistic and light use of the horns as LaMontagne sings praise to whoever – or whatever – he loves the most.

The optimistic theme pretty much ends there as tracks like “Sarah,” “I Still Care for You,” and “A Falling Through” detail LaMontagne’s sad and melancholy lament for a relationship that’s been whittled away through changes in time and attitudes.  In “Let it be Me,” LaMontagne offers his love and understanding similar to the classics “Lean on Me” and “You’ve got a Friend”.

“Gossip in the Grain” and “Winter Birds” take on a more poetic structure as LaMontagne sings “As green to gold, and gold to brown/The leaves will fall to feed the ground/And in their falling, make no sound/Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now.” It wasn’t really until I heard “Winter Birds” that I was able to see the comparison of this album to one of my all time favorites, Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.

The stylistic steps away from LaMontagne’s comfort zone are heard in “Meg White,” “Hey Me, Hey Mama,” and “Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s a Shame).” The intro to Meg White is straight out of an old western movie and your imagination can’t help but take you to a deserted town with two cowboys ready for a show down (tumbleweed included).  The song continues with a solid beat and a much heavier electric rhythm than we’ve heard from LaMontagne before.  It’s good stuff. “Hey Me, Hey Mama” is almost reminiscent of the simple American folk sounds of Pete Seeger.  “Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s a Shame)” has one of those enticing, bass-line running rhythms that you turn up in the car and don’t realize until the fade out that you’re going 30 mph over the speed limit.

All in all, the album is a nice, eclectic mixture of sounds with Ray LaMontagne’s soulful voice and acoustic rhythms that we’ll always expect with a splash of newer and original concepts.