Chuck Ragan “Love And Lore”

First solo album in ten years from Hot Water Music frontman proves well worth the wait.

Chuck Ragan’s musical career casts a long shadow that stretches back over thirty years, having first made his name as joint lead singer with the perennial punk rock band Hot Water Music, who back in May of this year released their tenth studio album “VOWS”. He also conceptualised the highly successful ‘Revival Tour’, back in 2005, that brought together a mix of punk rock, bluegrass, and alt-country acts to perform in an acoustic setting, which over the following years would go on to include such luminaries as Frank Turner and Brian Fallon from The Gaslight Anthem. On top of all this, Ragan has also managed to nurture a solo career, starting back in 2007 with the album “Feast Or Famine”, and culminating with his fourth release “Till Midnight” in 2014. The attempt to follow that album has been fraught with issues, some personal, some professional, along with a fair bit of bad luck/timing, which inevitably included Covid, but in truth the seeds for this new album “Love And Lore”, were sown as far back as 2016, although it would take until early 2023 for recording to finally get underway.

Co-produced with guitarist Todd Beene (Lucero and Glossary) the album features the rhythm section of Spencer Duncan on bass, along with fellow Hot Water Music band members George Rebelo on drums and Chris Cresswell (The Flatliners) supplying occasional backing vocals. This new offering finds Ragan continuing to fine-tune the sound of his solo releases, turning down the amps, honing in on the melodies, whilst still maintaining all his renowned power and potency, subtly straddling the space between punk pioneer and folk troubadour.

Opening with the gorgeous ‘All In’, and its twangy guitar intro Ragan announces that he is “edging away from the apathy, drifting away from the dark”, on a song that builds in musical layers to an infectious chorus line “let the fire break into the wind”. The following track ‘Wild In Our Ways’, embodies a little more of his punk credentials, with an opening riff and hard-driving rhythm section propelling a song desperately seeking a destination, as if Ragan still needs to remind everyone, though most likely himself, that the fire of youth still burns strong. ‘Northern World’, slows the pace with acoustic guitar and vocals delivering a more reflective prospective that builds in crescendo with Beene supplying a delightful guitar solo. ‘Echo The Calls’, is a real treat as Ragan’s road-weary vocals wrestle with the sweet melody of the chiming piano, while Beene’s contribution on guitar is again the icing on the cake. ‘Winter’, takes on the shape of a modern folk song that finds Ragan digging deep in to his own psyche, his narrative at times brutal, but never less than honest, as he pleads “Free your shadow”.

Elsewhere ‘Aching Hour’, explodes with all the urgency of a youthful Springsteen during his “Darkness On The Edge Of Town”, period,  while ‘Waiting On The Storm’, with its simple acoustic guitar accompaniment exposes Ragan’s vulnerability as he sings “I’ve been the hurricane were in, waiting out the storm”. It is as powerful as it is emotive and connects on every level. ‘One More Shot’, has the added bonus of some delightful vocals from Paige Overton who supplies the sweet to Ragan’s sour on a song that, with its infectious singalong chorus, has got hit single written all over it and will surely become a crowd favourite on the live circuit. ‘Reel My Heart’, is a stripped-down acoustic ballad that explores the challenges of balancing life on the road with the responsibilities of family life and loved ones, before ‘Hanging On’, offers up a rousing finale with loads of electric guitar and drums that deliver the perfect conduit for a fist-pumping anthem which brings this excellent album to a close.

On the opening track ‘All In’, Ragan sings the line “let me know when you find your sound”, and one can’t help but feel, having listened back to his previous work, that Ragan has been searching for precisely that throughout his musical career. With “Love And Lore”, the search may finally be over, with an album that comfortably stands alongside the best of 2024.