Chuck Ragan: Inspiration Comes From Everywhere
Over the last thirty years, our ears have been graced with the wonderful sounds from that of CHUCK RAGAN. Whether it be through a wonderful bombardment of furious punk songs with HOT WATER MUSIC or the calm and soothing tones of his solo folk music, it’s safe to say he has it all when it comes to his music. His gruff yet mellifluous voice has always made him easily identifiable to whoever is listening and works as a bridge between the world of punk rockers and folk troubadours.
When he’s not performing or touring, he plies his trade in the Sacramento Valley as a fly fishing instructor which sounds a beautifully simple and a quiet life to counteract the madness of touring life. 2024 has been one hell of a year for him, releasing music with HOT WATER MUSIC and his first solo album in ten years. We were honoured to have a chat with him whilst on tour in Germany, speaking with him about his new album, balancing his solo career with HOT WATER MUSIC and more.
For most artists, releasing one album a year can be a huge undertaking, every now and then we get a band or artist who will release two, most of the time to varying degrees of quality. For CHUCK RAGAN however, he has hit the nail on the head by delivering two high quality albums this year alone. Starting off the discussion, we asked how he was able to tackle such a commitment. “I’m thrilled to do it, I’m at an age where I feel lucky to be anywhere. Playing music with people that I admire and respect, releasing both Vows and Love & Lore makes me proud, I had a great time making each record.”
Turning the discussion to how RAGAN approaches the writing of his music, he simply tells us that “music for me is a form of therapy. It’s an expressive outlet, but to me documenting and discovering songs, writing about things I care about and move me have helped me to figure out how to overcome obstacles in the process. It’s very similar to keeping a journey, finishing a song is like finishing a page in that journal but finishing an album is like closing that journal and finding the closure and moving on.”
It’s a thoughtful and profound answer which holds up alongside his latest album. When listening to Love & Lore, you elicit feelings from warmth, optimism, triumph but occasionally sadness. However, it looks back on the sadness and instead turns into an expression of love, when discussing with RAGAN if this was the main focus of the album, he explains that “often, these songs don’t come from a happy place. It goes not just with my music but a lot of HOT WATER MUSIC songs as well, some of them stem from dark places or experiences. But what is important to me with these songs is that there is always a glimmer of hope or light at the end of the tunnel.”
As the conversation winds down we turn to what inspirations there were when it comes to Love & Lore. It’s an album that very much gives off a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN vibe, particularly around his eras of releasing The River and Nebraska. Whilst there is some truth to the SPRINGSTEEN links, CHUCK RAGAN tells us that he looks further than just music for inspiration by saying it truly comes from “anywhere and everywhere”. Whilst elaborating on it, he delivers a truly excellent and yet another profound answer. “I often look for a melody or movement that drives me and makes me feel something. I’m looking for energy.” It’s an inspiration that brings him a true connection with nature, truly rooting him with his surroundings. He continues, “sometimes I write melodies while I’m running the boats when there’s a hum to the engines, there’s a rhythm with the water lapping the sides of the boat. I hear rhythms in movements in mother nature all the time. Trees creaking and rubbing against each other, birds and wildlife. I listen to all of that.”
It’s an answer that helps you truly connect to the words that CHUCK RAGAN writes. To him however, he tells us all the topics of storytelling and musical notes are only a handful with no more of them to be discovered. RAGAN however finds his way around this as it’s more of an “interpretation of what we have always known our whole life. We’ve either heard it, seen it or felt it. In so many ways, we take what inspires and drives us and we just discover how we need to share it. Inspiration comes from everywhere.”
You can easily listen to CHUCK RAGAN talk for hours. After sitting and talking to him for only a short while, there is plenty to learn about him in that short space of time. For most bands and artists, thirty years in the game is more than enough time to become jaded and produce the same piece of music again and again. CHUCK RAGAN however is a genuine article. He’s a man who doesn’t take anything for granted and even when the cards are stacked against him, he always finds a way through it via thought provoking songs that pick you up when you’re at your lowest and simply tell you that everything is going to be fine, maybe everyone should take a leaf out of his book. If they did, the world would be a much more wonderful place than it is.
Love And Lore is out now via Rise Records.
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