Chuck Ragan

Chuck Ragan
Chuck Ragan performing with Jon Gaunt in Nottingham (16 November 2010) while touring with The Gaslight Anthem
Background information
Birth name	Charles Allen Ragan[1]
Born	(1974-010-30) October 30, 1974[2]
Genres	folk rock, punk rock
Years active	1993–present
Labels	SideOneDummy
Associated acts	Hot Water Music
Website	Official Website
Members	Jon Gaunt, Joe Ginsber, Todd Beene, David Hidalgo Jr.
Past members	Digger Barnes

Charles Allen "Chuck" Ragan (born October 30, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is the guitarist and vocalist of the band Hot Water Music. Ragan has since released a variety of solo material, including a series of 7-inches on No Idea Records, a live album and three studio albums on Side One Dummy Records.

Hot Water Music

From 1993 until 2006 Ragan was one of the lead singers for Gainesville, Florida-based punk rock band Hot Water Music. The group disbanded on good terms in 2005, and the other three members went on to form punk band The Draft, while Ragan continued a solo career playing mostly acoustic folk inspired music similar in tone to a former acoustic Hot Water Music side project called Rumbleseat signing to Side One Dummy Records. Hot Water Music reunited in 2007 for a tour across the United States and Europe, and in 2012, released a new album, Exister.

Tours

Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry and Ben Nichols toured in the fall of 2008. Chuck Ragan was also a support act on Frank Turner's 2010 tour of the UK, and supported The Gaslight Anthem during their 2010 European Fall tour. Ragan was the opener on the Social Distortion west coast tour in late January and February 2011.

The Revival Tour

In 2005, Ragan conceptualized the idea of The Revival Tour, a collaborative acoustic event featuring several punk rock, bluegrass, and alt-country performers. Ragan has stated that the tour is about "sharing music together" and "bringing it to people in an extremely honest and grassroots fashion." ^[3]

On each tour the artists were accompanied by a fiddle player, Jon Gaunt, and an upright bass player. In 2008 and 2009, German Americana singer, Digger Barnes played the upright bass.^[4][5] In 2011, 2012, and 2013, the upright bass was played by Joe Ginsberg.^[6][7][8]

Beginnings

The first Revival Tour in 2008 featured Avail's Tim Barry and Lucero's Ben Nichols, with guest appearances from Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!, Kevin Seconds, Jon Snodgrass of Drag the River, Jesse Malin of D Generation, Chris McCaughan of The Lawrence Arms, Austin Lucas, and Frank Turner.^[9]

2009-2012

In 2010, The Revival Tour journeyed across Australia, featuring Ragan, Barry, Nichols, Frank Turner, Jen Buxton of Like...Alaska, Darren Gibson, and Jamie Hay, accompanied by Jon Gaunt on fiddle and Todd Beene (of Glossary and Lucero) on pedal steel guitar.^[10][11] The Tour was concluded with a one-off performance at the Punk Rock Bowling festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring Ragan, Nichols, Kevin Seconds, Steve Soto, John Carey of Old Man Markley, and Flogging Molly's Matt Hensley and Nathen Maxwell.^[12]

The 2011 Revival Tour featured Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause of The Loved Ones, and Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio,^[3] as well as guest appearances from Helen Chambers, Sam Russo, Jimmy Islip, Brian Brody, and Franz Nicolay^[13] In 2012, Ragan, Andriano, Laura Jane Grace, Cory Branan, Ben Kweller and Nathaniel Rateliff performed across the United States and Canada for the Tour's spring leg.^[6] In the autumn of the same year, a European leg of the Tour featured Ragan, Branan, Emily Barker, Rocky Votolato, and Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash.^[14]

Musical projects

In a February 12, 2010 interview, Chuck commented that he was working on an album with Brian Fallon, frontman for the Gaslight Anthem.^[15] Since then, Fallon's vocals appeared on Ragan's song "Meet You In The Middle." Ragan released a four way split with underground UK singer-songwriters Sam Russo, Helen Chambers and Jimmy Islip in 2011.^[16]

On November 21, 2013 Chuck announced that his next solo album with Todd Beene of Lucero and Glossary, Jon Gaunt, Joe Ginsberg, David Hidalgo Jr. of Social Distortion, Rami Jaffee of The Wallflowers and Foo Fighters, Christopher Torn of Blind Melon that would be titled 'Till Midnight and released in 2014 on Side One Dummy.

Other projects

In 2012, Ragan released a book of tour stories entitled "The Road Most Traveled." The book is said to be "more than just a collection of anecdotes, it’s as much a handbook of how to act on tour as it is a cautionary tale of what not to do if you want to sustain this lifestyle for years to come." ^[17]

Discography

Studio albums

• 2007 Feast or Famine - SideOneDummy / No Idea Records (LP/CD)
• 2008 Bristle Ridge - with Austin Lucas - Hometown Caravan - LP (Ltd. European Tour Ed.) / Ten Four Records (LP/CD)
• 2009 Gold Country - SideOneDummy / TenFour Records (CD/LP)
• 2009 Anderson Family Bluegrass / Chuck Ragan - Stowaway Sound / Ten Four Records (Split LP)
• 2010 Chuck Ragan / Darren Gibson Poison City Records (Split LP)
• 2011 Covering Ground - SideOneDummy / TenFour Records (CD/LP)
• 2011 Chuck Ragan / Sam Russo / Jimmy Islip / Helen Chambers' / Specialist Subject Releases (CD/LP)
• 2014 Till Midnight - SideOneDummy (CD/LP)

Live albums

• 2006: Live at the Troubadour - Self-Release (CD-R)
• 2007: Los Feliz - SideOneDummy (CD/LP)
• 2009: Live at Hafenkneipe Zürich - Leech Records (LP - Ltd. to 1500 copies)
• 2009: Chuck plays Frankfurt - Fanclub (DoLP - Ltd. to 300 handnumbered copies)
• 2009: Live from Rock Island: The Daytrotter Sessions - Side One Dummy Records (10" Vinyl)
• 2010: Live at Cafe Du Nord (CD/LP)

Singles

The 7-Inch Club - 2006-2007, No Idea Records (Ragan released a series of seven singles, one per month, referred to collectively as "The 7-Inch Club" and because only those who had pre-ordered the entire set ahead of time could obtain copies.) The series was also pressed on a CD entitled The Blueprint Sessions which accompanied the final mailing of the 7-Inch Club.

References

External links

• Chuck Ragan
• The Revival Tour