Empty Bottle Evenings | Chuck Ragan | Empty Bottle Evenings

Jan132015January 13, 2015January 13, 20152 Commentsby Bake

Chuck Ragan | Till Midnight

Posted in Music

The last time I listened to Chuck Ragan was when Hot Water Music’s “A Flight and a Crash” was playing regularly on my Winamp Music Player. Yes, 2001 was a long time ago. I really liked the wildly intense 2 minute punk song, but for some reason never got into the band. 14 years later I’m thinking it’s time to revisit them, because after listening to Ragan’s solo albums, this is a songwriter that definitely deserves way more attention.

As mentioned in the Empty Bottle Evenings Year End Review, Ragan’s latest studio effort, Till Midnight, was one of my favorite albums of 2014. Like fellow Sons of Springsteen Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem), Ragan has been providing his gruff, growling voice to those that actually paid attention for the better half of a decade. While the other two have delivered The Boss-inspired rock with a full band sound (minus solo projects), Ragan’s work is more stripped down, with his deep rasp accompanied by his acoustic guitar and harmonica. On some tracks throughout his four studio albums, Ragan will also use additional guitar and percussion, devilish fiddle, and group vocals (sometimes provided by the men noted above and shown below). Man I wish I made it out for The Revival Tour.

Till Midnight includes more drums and additional musicians. It is probably the closest to sounding like it’s not a solo project, which actually suites Ragan quite well. This isn’t to say his other albums are bad by any means. I listened to this album first, so I may have initially preferred him with a full band sound, but even Ragan’s stripped down songs have a ton of energy. While some artists that go the folk route turn down the volume and try to put you to sleep with their imagery, Ragan’s more solo-ish work is still full of raucous, up-tempo songs that are more Dropkick Murphys than Woody Guthrie. His first album Feast or Famine includes a good chunk of acoustic/harmonica/grizzly sung slow (albeit really good) folk songs, but includes nearly as many (acoustic) punk songs like “For Broken Ears”, “California Burritos”, “Between the Lines” and “Don’t Cry”. His follow up album, 2009’s Gold Country, builds off the mixture of folk and punk but expands it beautifully into Country and Americana as well. Songs like the violin-heavy, hand-clapping roots jam “Glory” are among his best songs. This may actually be one of the best songs I’ve heard from anyone. As Jack Torrance once so calmly suggested, why don’t you go check it out?

Ragan’s 3^rd album Covering Ground is another installment of guitar, fiddle, upright bass, intentionally strained vocals, and lyrics about traveling. It’s not entirely repetitive though; mixing it up with a great duet with Audra Mae on “Valentine” and with other songs like “Nomad By Fate” that hint at the sound that will follow on Till Midnight. There is a transition from folkier songs to more a more alt-rock, mainstream sort of sound. It’s a similar shift completed previously by Ragan-contributor and Empty Bottle Evenings favorite Frank Turner. It may have increased Ragan’s popularity, but like with Turner, no one should be too disappointed, a little extra polish shouldn’t take away from the punk-folk poetry, the guttural vocals, and some of the best music you should be listening to right now. I can’t stop singing along with “Vagabond”, “Revved”, “Non Typical”, and “Whistleblowers Song”, so please listen to him doing his versions or I will find you and force you to listen to mine. And while I wholeheartedly recommend Till Midnight, do yourself a favor and check out everything else Ragan has done as well. And Turner too. And Ben Nichols and Brian Fallon while you’re at it. And if you go through all that and you still want more, Springsteen has over 20 albums. Take your pick.