Ray LaMontagne. (Dominic Chan/WENN.com)

TORONTO - If you closed your eyes and listened to singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne’s delivery, at times you would think you’re listening to an old bluesman born and bred on the shores of the Mississippi.

But Maine has no association with the famous river, and 37-years-old doesn’t come close to fitting old bluesman criteria.

What LaMontagne does fit into is some delightfully strange concoction of Van Morrison, Sam Cooke and The Band, one which was showcased for most of his 16-song, 95-minute set at a sold-out Massey Hall.

LaMontagne and his backing group The Pariah Dogs – who co-headlined a gig with David Gray last summer at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre – are still supporting last year’s God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise. The album certainly wasn’t ignored as only one of the ten tracks, This Love Is Over, was shunned in the set list.

Wearing a plaid shirt and looking as if he still had some firewood to chop up, LaMontagne commenced with the tender Like Rock And Roll And Radio alone with a guitar and harmonica. The delicate touches he provided on numbers like Trouble as especially Old Before Your Time contrasted perfectly with his at times rough, raspy timbre.

Far from the proto-typical rock star and sporadically acknowledging the shouts of appreciation from the generation-spanning audience, LaMontagne excelled when the three influences emerged simultaneously. The chugging Devil’s In The Jukebox and Repo Man, the latter a groove-laced jam with the singer and drummer Jay Bellerose wasting no time finding their chemistry on.

“That was sloppy, but sloppy in a good way,” he said following Devil’s In The Jukebox.

Content to avoid the spotlight by being on one end of a half-circle of musicians including guitarists and pedal steel masters Eric Heywood and Greg Leisz, LaMontagne missed the mark a bit on Are We Really Through and For The Summer. You Can Bring Me Flowers featuring support siblings The Secret Sisters meanwhile earned a very strong response as did Henry Nearly Killed Me that again melded many musical fields.

With about a half-hour left until the curfew would rear its head, LaMontagne went for a quick one-song encore of All The Wild Horses before a quick bow brought up the house lights. A bit more in the encore wouldn’t have hurt, but LaMontagne must have felt the sweet sixteen offered up was just right.

Opening for LaMontagne was singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile who was the perfect complement to the headliner. Although the powerful The Story seemed to big the highlight, Carlile did Dying Day without any microphone or amplification at the lip of the stage. Another keeper was her stripped down cover of the 80s guilty pleasure Forever Young by Alphaville.

First up and worth mentioning were The Secret Sisters who plied sweet harmonies on George Jones’ Why Baby Why, Tennessee Me and River Jordan.