Chuck Ragan: Covering Ground

Chuck Ragan
Covering Ground
SideOneDummy Records [2011]









Fire Note Says: Another heart on the sleeve offering from Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan!

Album Review:
Hot Water Music frontman, Chuck Ragan, returns with his third solo outing, titled Covering Ground, which follows the same working man folk style found on his previous records. This "man against the road" setting found on Covering Ground is a perfect fit for Ragan's gravely voice, as he sells each track with a passionate delivery that demands your attention. When he sings "Say what you want I don't mind" on opening track "Nothing Left To Prove", Ragan lays his emotion on the table and his sincerity behind a peace offering to his brother on "Come Around", is something that not only catches your ear but is a song you can respect. This is the type of personal stories that Ragan delivers on Covering Ground and with the guest backing vocals of Brian Fallon (Gaslight Anthem), the soulful Audra Mae, and singer/songwriter Frank Turner, the album only gets better after every spin. Covering Ground also never tries to mask itself as anything other than a solid folk outing with the instrumentation including fiddle, mandolin, harp, upright bass, banjo, lap steel, pedal steel, tambourine and the dobro. Chuck Ragan will always go down as a punk legend with his Hot Water Music material but quickly he has risen to the top of this genre with his consistent passionate offerings that consistently are great, as Covering Ground continues this trend!

Key Tracks: "Nomad By Fate", "Wish On The Moon", "Come Around"

Bands With Similar Fire:
The Horrible Crowes
William Elliott Whitmore
Frank Turner

Chuck Ragan: Gold Country [Fire Note Review 9/2/09]

Chuck Ragan Website
Chuck Ragan Facebook
SideOneDummy Records

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony