California performer gets Onyx Bar gig

Just about two weeks ago, Ray Fortune played the first of his new twice-weekly gigs at Red Rock Resort's Onyx Bar.

How was it? Fortune answers, appropriately enough, with a song lyric.

"It's kind of like 'Annie,' where she comes to Daddy Warbucks' house for the first time," Fortune says, laughing, and then singing: "I think I'm going to like it here ... "

Fortune actually is more accustomed to playing restaurants and wineries in Santa Barbara County than Las Vegas lounges. He was born in California, in Santa Ynez, and was only 10 when he started playing the guitar and formed a band with a few friends.

"We pretty much started a band to play shows and to get girls and to have fun," he says, laughing. "So we had our goals from really early on."

And, because Fortune always had been told that he had a good voice, he became the group's singer, "just to kind of fill out the sound."

That band lasted only until high school, but more bands would follow. By his early 20s, Fortune had become a professional musician, even though he can't recall making any sort of deliberate decision to do so.

By the age of 22, Fortune "kind of fell into being a singer-songwriter" and became a popular performer at area venues such as restaurants and coffeehouses.

In addition, "I ended up playing acoustic solo gigs at wineries out there," says Fortune, 32. "And it's such a great venue for an artist, because you have a captive audience, everyone is outside, everyone is happy, everyone's on vacation and having a great, romantic time."

A few months ago, a Station Casinos executive happened to catch Fortune playing. Long story short, Fortune came to Las Vegas, played a private party and was offered the gig at Onyx Bar.

Fortune describes his music as "California country, where it's influenced by artists such as Gram Parsons and 'Nashville Skyline'-era Bob Dylan" with a nod, also, to alt-country and artists such as Ryan Adams and Wilco and, then, appreciation for "the lyrical genius of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits."

But, at Onyx, "I keep it pretty broad," Fortune adds. "I do anything from the Beatles to Johnny Cash to John Mayer to Ryan Adams."

Fortune still lives in Southern California and will commute to Las Vegas, doing an overnighter, for his Red Rock Resort performances. But, he jokes, "that's good, too, because that's the original definition of the troubadour, that's what being a troubadour is: You never know where you're going to wake up the next morning."

Ray Fortune plays from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the Onyx Bar at Red Rock Resort, 11011 W. Charleston Blvd.