Ray Montford
Ray Montford began playing guitar professionally in 1987 and soon developed a reputation among Toronto musicians for his clean, economical style.  This led to work as a back-up musician with several of the city’s best songwriters and players.  Between 1994 and 1996, Ray toured extensively in Canada, the US and Europe with the Juno Award-winning folk/pop group, The Rankins, and in 1997 with Mary Jane Lamond. Ray shows up on two recordings by The Rankins, "Collection" and "Endless Seasons" and has both played and recorded with a number of artists including The Chieftans, Andy Stochansky, Katherine Wheatley, The Gravelberries, and The Look People. 

Ray has been working more and more toward a solo career since his 1991 indie cassette release, The Light Within.  His growing focus on songwriting and the creation and performance of his own music led to the release of shed your skin in 1997.  shed your skin , a self-produced effort, is a rich, cross-cultural recording that stretches the boundaries of contemporary guitar-based instrumentals and explores elements of pop, world, folk, rock and Latin styles. With shed your skin Ray Montford has written and produced original material that transports the listener through countless sonic worlds.

Following the release of shed your skin  in 1997, Ray served as the opener for Mary Jane Lamond’s cross Canada CD Release Tour. Other performance highlights in 1998/1999 were The International Beaches Jazz Festival, Harbourfront Centre, Great Theatre Company in Ottawa, CD Release at The Reverb Club with National CBC TV coverage, and, most recently, a live CBC recording for "Heartland".

This year Ray provided musical and technical assistance for the original music produced for "Tuba Girl", a short film.  And, Ray’s music featured prominently in "Gimme Shelter", a documentary focusing on the issue of homelessness that was a winner at the 1999 Apple Awards Film & Video Competition in California.

In 1984 Ray received a degree from the Recording Engineering Program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario and in 1986 studied music at Humber College. In 1991, he was hired by C’est What?, a vital, live venue for original music, to consult and design the P.A. system for their new music room.  Ray was their in-house engineer between 1991-1994 combining his talent and reputation as an original musician with his engineering skills and abilities. Ray now operates his own project studio, The Soundhole, where he has produced, engineered or mixed sessions for Mary Jane Lamond, Pauline Groen/Sleeps Six, Katherine Wheatley, Andy Creeggan, Jani Lauzon, Cyrus, Rachel Kane, Prya Thomas, Ron Sexsmith, Ramesh Misra & Vineet Vyas, Rick Lazar, poet Jeff Bien, Chris Lowry, and Ravi Naimpally.

Ray has just relased One Step Closer

Recordings

One Step Closer
released 2000
 

One Step Closer CD

One Step Closer
CD $18.50 ON SALE AGAIN SEPTEMEBER 8, 2003

1.  Meldrum Bay
2.  Appalachia  
3.  Stay
4.  Oludinez  
5.  Grace  
6.  Coming Home
7.  World Gone Mad
8.  Take Me With You  
9.  Movin’ On
10.  Not Ready Yet
11.  In My Life

Shed Your Skin
released 1997 

Shed Your Skin CD

One Step Closer
CD $18.50 ON SALE AGAIN SEPTEMEBER 8, 2003

1. One Witness
2. Ice House 
3. The Long Road
4. May It Begin 
5. Celebrate
6. Shed Your Skin
7. Spirit
8. Passion
9. Take Me Back
10. Alchemy
11. Axis

Visits Ray's website at www.raymontford.com