DATE / TIME
02/14/2018 at 8:30 pm
LOCATION
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CHUCK RAGAN
Chuck Ragan’s bracing new release Till Midnight once again confirms what the
iconoclastic singer-songwriter’s fans have known all along: that he’s a deeply
compelling songwriter and an effortlessly charismatic performer, as well as a
true believer in music’s ability to illuminate and inspire.
Till Midnight’s ten typically impassioned new Ragan compositions embody the
artist’s trademark mix of eloquent lyrical insight and catchy, forceful songcraft.
The album’s formidable blend of head and heart is reflected on such new tunes
as “Something May Catch Fire,” “Vagabond,” “Non Typical,” “Bedroll Lullaby”
and “Wake With You,” on which Ragan applies his distinctively raspy voice and
sharp melodic sensibility to vividly expressive tunes that reflect both his early
grounding in traditional American music and his deep affinity for rock n’ roll.
“There’s a lot of love songs on this one,” notes Ragan, whose work has always
shown a knack for addressing individual concerns as well as societal ones. “I
love to write love songs because it’s the most powerful emotion. It’s what
grounds us to this Earth and makes us want to fight to make the world a better
place.
“I always just try to write from the heart and make the music as genuine as I
possibly can,” he continues. “By doing that, I’m usually writing about whatever’s
going on in my life. And when you’re living your life by wearing your heart on
your sleeve, there’s not a lot to hide behind.”
In a musical life that spans close to three decades, Chuck Ragan has
consistently worn his heart on his sleeve, and carved out a musical niche in the
process. First with post-hardcore trailblazers Hot Water Music and
subsequently on his own, he’s built a large and singularly powerful body of work
whose honesty, immediacy and warmth have won the loyalty of a fiercely
devoted international fan base that’s supported him through his various musical
incarnations.
Till Midnight benefits from sensitive production by multi-instrumentalist and Blind
Melon/AWOL Nation member Christopher Thorn, and backup by Ragan’s
longstanding combo the Camaraderie—guitarist/pedal steel player Todd Beene,
fiddler Jon Gaunt and bassist Joe Ginsberg, plus new drummer David Hidalgo
Jr., of Social Distortion and formerly of Suicidal Tendencies, and son of Los
Lobos’ David Hidalgo—along with Rami Jaffee of Wallflowers/Foo Fighters
fame, Ben Nichols of Lucero, Dave Hause, Jenny O., Chad Price and Jon
Snodgrass of Drag the River.
To give Till Midnight an appropriately organic, lived-in feel, Ragan gathered the
musicians at his home in Northern California for a week of rehearsal, fishing and
preproduction, before road-testing the new material in Europe.
“It was really the first time we all learned and rehearsed the songs as a group
and laid everything down together,” Ragan explains. “It made a huge difference
for everybody to have time to sit and breathe with these songs and let
everything develop naturally. There was a feeling that I set out to capture and
the guys there were able to help us capture it.”
Although its birth cycle may have been different, the honesty and urgency that
distinguish Till Midnight have been constants in the musical journey that began
in Ragan’s early years. After playing in numerous bands in the late ’80s and
early ’90s, Ragan teamed with Chris Wollard, Jason Black and George Rebelo,
with whom he relocated from Sarasota, FL to Gainesville and formed Hot Water
Music. That band quickly emerged as one of the American punk scene’s most
distinctive and inventive units, winning a reputation as a riveting live act while
releasing such well-received studio albums as Fuel for the Hate Game, Forever
and Counting, No Division, A Flight and A Crash, Caution and The New What
Next, as well as the live discs Live at the Hardback and Live in Chicago and the
compilations Finding the Rhythms, Never Ender and Till the Wheels Fall Off.
Feeling the urge to stretch out creatively, Ragan ventured into a more acoustic
approach with the side project Rumbleseat, which released several singles and
the album Rumbleseat Is Dead. After Hot Water Music disbanded in 2005,
Ragan enthusiastically embraced his new status as solo troubadour, exploring
an expanded palette of acoustic and electric textures on the acclaimed albums
Feast or Famine, Gold Country and Covering Ground, as well as the strippeddown
live set Los Feliz and a series of limited-edition subscription singles
released in 2006 and 2007, and later compiled on CD as The Blueprint
Sessions.
In 2008, Ragan launched the long-running Revival Tour, a series of
collaborative acoustic adventures featuring a diverse assortment of punk,
bluegrass and alt-country performers. In addition to Ragan, the Revival Tour,
which has visited Britain, Europe, Australia and Scandinavia as well as North
America, has featured a broad array of talents, including Anderson Family
Bluegrass, Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath, Craig Finn of the Hold Steady,
Cory Branan, Ben Kweller, Laura Jane Grace, Jay Malinowski of Bedouin
Soundclash, Tim Barry, Austin Lucas, Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids, Jesse
Malin, Chris Carrabba, Chris McCaughan, Lucero’s Ben Nichols, Dave Hause,
Flogging Molly’s Matt Hensley and Nathan Maxwell, Joey Cape, Brian Fallon of
the Gaslight Anthem, Audra Mae, Emily Barker, Dan Andriano of the Alkaline
Trio, along with Jenny O, Kevin Seconds, Frank Turner, Rocky Votolato, Jon
Snodgrass, Chad Price and Jenny Owen Youngs.
In 2012—the same year that Ragan reunited with Hot Water Music to record
their album Exister—the veteran road warrior released his first book, The Road
Most Traveled, a collection of insights and anecdotes on the touring life that
serves as both a personal memoir and a helpful how-to handbook. He is
currently working on a second volume.
As his book makes clear, and as Till Midnight confirms, Ragan takes his musical
mission seriously, drawing inspiration and emotional sustenance from the
songwriters and music he surrounds himself with, his family and friends along
with the close and loyal relationship with his audience.
“The way I see it,” Ragan observes, “we’re faced with tons of inspiration every
day. Every step of this life has a way of teaching you something, showing you
something, opening your ears and your heart to something. I have all these
friends out there, and this community that supports me, who believe in what I’m
doing and who believe in the power of music and the power of community.
“It’s a blessing and a privilege to stand on stage and play music for people,” he
continues. “I meet so many folks out there, and they’re so hospitable and so
kind and say such nice things to me about the songs. The support and the
energy that I get from them is what makes it possible for me to keep doing
this. And when I’m there and in that moment, it’s important to me to give it back
to them as strongly as they’re giving it to me.”
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