Brother Ray Lemelin and the Matinee Kings release fifth album 'Raw'

Brother Ray Lemelin & The Matinee Kings released "Raw" on October 16, 2026, his fifth studio album. It is an eight-track record, seven originals and a cover of a Lloyd "Tiny" Grimes tune, available now on Apple Music.

Lemelin arrived in Calgary around 1980 from Quebec's Eastern Townships. By 1982 he was playing two house gigs in the city, four nights a week: Marty's Cafe on 17th Avenue S.W. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Mickey Rat's Diner below SAIT on 14th Street N.W. on Fridays and Saturdays.

One roommate's Muddy Waters record, played for two days, led him to see Willie Dixon at the Beacon. He got a haircut, bought a suit and shades, and never looked back. His education deepened at the King Eddy, which became a blues bar in 1983, where a bartender made him cassette tapes of records he should hear. He later played alongside Back-Alley John, Jimmy Payne, Johnny V, Fenton Robinson, Albert Collins and Pinetop Perkins.

For a stretch in the 1980s he was valet and guitar caretaker for Clarence Gatemouth Brown whenever Brown played Calgary. "I didn't play in his band; I just took care of his guitars and made sure he had enough entertainment... Or marijuana," Lemelin says.

In 1991, Lemelin met Brown in Edmonton and played him a tape of covers. Brown's reply: "Ray, you'll never be as good as I am at doing that kind of thing. Why don't you figure out who the hell you are and get to it quick." Lemelin says that remark changed everything, and he now plays covers "my way."

That same year he released his debut, Thangs. His previous album, Stirring the Pot, came out in 2025 with 10 songs. Raw works the same blues ground, from growling numbers such as "Slow and Steady" to accordion-sweetened ballads such as "Hold Your Hand Out."