Chuck Ragan

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.

Chuck Ragan grew up in the Southeast and was raised by his Louisiana and Florida bred Southern family. He played his first solo show over 25 years ago and has been writing heartfelt campfire anthems ever since he picked up an acoustic guitar at the age of 12.

People discover Chuck Ragan in different ways. Some people know Ragan from the pioneering punk act Hot Water Music he’s co-fronted for the past three decades. Others are aware of his successful solo career or the Revival Tour, a collection of traveling troubadours that included his peers like Frank Turner and the Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon. Some folks may have even come across him from the successful fly fishing operation he runs out of Grass Valley, California. The one throughline through all this is the way that Ragan approaches everything with a level of honesty and integrity that can’t be faked.

“I have a tradition that when we finish something, I want to sit down and put that record on and I want to listen to it… and it may be the last time I listen to it for a long time,” Ragan explains. “Because that to me is when there’s closure: All those songs, all those feelings, all those thoughts, all of those things I needed to get off my chest and out of my head—and I’m not talking about just me, but a whole village makes this happen. When I can put a record on and play both sides and take it off, stick it in the sleeve and put it on the shelf, then I can find some peace.”

Website: chuckraganmusic.com
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YouTube: @chuckraganofficial426
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