The term folk medicine refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.

Folk medicine may also be referred to as Traditional medicine, Alternative medicine, Indigenous medicine, Complementary medicine, Natural medicine. These terms are often considered interchangeable, even though some authors may prefer one or the other because of certain overtones they may be willing to highlight. In fact, out of these terms perhaps only Indigenous medicine and Traditional medicine are the terms well congruent with folk medicine, while others should be understood rather in modern or modernized context.

All cultures and societies have knowledge best described as folk medicine. Although there is large overlap, the denotative and connotative definitions differ. Folk medicine often coexists with formalized, education-based, and institutionalized systems of healing such as Western medicine or Great traditional medicine systems like Ayurvedic, Unani medicine, and Chinese medicine, but is distinguishable from formalized or institutionalized healing systems.

Raymond "Ray" Charles Jack LaMontagne ( /lɑːmɒnˈteɪn/; born June 18, 1973) is a Grammy-award winning American singer-songwriter. LaMontagne has released four studio albums, Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain and God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise. He was born in New Hampshire and was inspired to create music after hearing an album by Stephen Stills. Critics have compared LaMontagne's music to The Band, Van Morrison, Nick Drake, and Tim Buckley. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

LaMontagne was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, in 1973. Despite his father's background in music, LaMontagne avoided the activity and spent time reading fantasy novels in the forest. He spent time in several different states in his youth. In his early teens he lived in Morgan, Utah, a small rural town of 2000 people. He was known for being an aloof, and indifferent to his education. He was much more interested in drawing images of Dungeons and Dragons than he was in his school work. He was well liked, and revered as somewhat of a mild nuisance. After graduating from high school, LaMontagne moved to Lewiston, Maine and found work in a shoe factory.