Chuck Ragan Tickets

Get Born Again with Chuck Ragan

Folk music has close ties to revival and gospel music, with similar harmonies and soulful singing that rouses congregations and fans alike. It's a fine line for a folk singer-songwriter to walk sometimes, but Chuck Ragan does it better than most, as he balances music between his family ties to ministry and his punk rock past during the formative years of his career. These two extremes of the spectrum have yielded a unique sound which makes Ragan stand apart in today's crowded folk scene.

Schedule

Chuck Ragan will be touring extensively around North America, the United Kingdom and Europe over the next year or so. He will trace the East Coast, going from a performance at the esteemed radio programme WorldCafé Live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Rough Trade in Brooklyn, New York to The Sinclair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From there he will spend a month or so in Canada, playing venues like Mavericks in Ottawa and the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver, BC before heading across the pond to play the likes of King Tuts in Glasgow, Scala in London, Trix in Antwerp, Heimthafen in Berlin, and Debaser Strand in Stockholm.

Trivia

Ragan had a unique upbringing. His father was the well known PGA and Ryder Cup golfer Dave Ragan, who won three PGA tournaments in the 1960s and is generally considered to be one of the better professional golf instructors in the game today. His mother, Geraldine, was a gospel singer and missionary in Florida.

Band

Chuck Ragan was originally in a popular punk band known as Hot Water Music, as the lead guitarist and vocalist. When the band broke up amicably in 2005, Ragan embarked upon a solo career, focusing more on up-tempo folk music and creating something he called The Revival Tour, which combined punk rock, bluegrass and alternative country performers into one concert. This mission led to the formation of his own band.

Breakthrough

By 2010, Ragan's Revival Tour had caught on and the movement took to the continent of Australia with a klatch of incredibly talented musicians in tow. They played across the land down under before concluding with a one-off performance in Las Vegas at the Punk Rock Bowling festival, which included musicians like Matt Hensley and Nathan Maxwell of Flogging Molly, Steve Soto, and John Carey of Old Man Markley. The subsequent 2011 tour featured Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause of The Loved Ones and Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano.

Hit Albums

Ragan has released four studio albums to date and all have received critical acclaim. However, the record that has seemed to draw the most praise and critical attention was the third, "Covering Ground," which received four stars from critics like Paste Magazine and Alternative Press, and an 8 out of 10 on the Metacritics overall ratings scale, which averages all the reviews of the album. Brian Fallon and Frank Turner are featured as guest vocalists on certain tracks.

Show Experience

With the heavy folk and revivalist influence, there will be plenty of singing and dancing amongst the crowd at Chuck Ragan shows. The joy in the music is infectious. At the same time, there is an element of volume that verges on a rock concert, evoking Ragan's punk band roots. One thing is almost guaranteed at every Chuck Ragan concert -- the musicians will leave everything they have on the stage.