I DIDN’T know an awful lot about Ray LaMontagne before tonight.

But now I quite want to while away my days on the steps of a little prairie house listening to him sing about life’s trials and tribulations.

He has, quite simply, one of the best voices I have ever heard. Not quite raspy, it’s rich, soothing and unassumingly powerful.

So it was a real treat when, in a very un-showbiz move, Ray and his four ‘Pariah dogs’ took to the stage early.

A cover, You are the best thing, eased the newer fans into an evening of soul-searching. Beg, Steal or Borrow, about a young man itching to leave his small hometown, gave way to the rousing Shelter.

The ‘dogs’ proved expert, albeit fairly serious, musicians who joined Mr LaMontagne in traditional country get-up.

Support act Secret Sisters were invited back on twice, once for a couple of covers which had inspired Ray as he grew up. With references to wayward lovers, mountains, sunsets and “bustin’ my back just to make my pay” we really could have been in a dusty Western – someone in the audience even yee-hawed. The mouth accordion was brought out for the gutsy Henry Kicked Me, with lines like: “I have been kicked in the teeth until the blood ran hot and sweet.”

The crowd literally bayed until Ray –37 under that great beard, in case you wondered - came back on for a superb rendition of hit single Trouble and his own Jolene.