Photo: Chrissy Piper

by Allan Wigney

“It’s kind of three different things in one,” Chuck Ragan says of the Canadian tour that brings him to Capital City. The first thing begins Thursday at Mavericks, as Ragan and pal Dave Hause hit town for a folksy revival show. For this and a handful of Ontario dates, the singer and guitarist will perform in the company of trusted bassist Joe Ginsberg and fiddler Jon Gaunt.

Then, following a NXNE date, it’s on to another thing altogether, as the rootsy songwriter dons his punk-rock persona for a series of shows as frontman for Hot Water Music, the Floridian band with which Ragan first made noise nearly two decades ago. A handful of western solo shows, opening for Dropkick Murphys, will complete phase III of a chameleonic Canadian tour later this month.

But then, shifting gears is nothing new to Ragan, who since Hot Water Music “went on hiatus” five years ago has gone from angry punk to thoughtful master of acoustic-based music steeped in folk and country roots. His latest album, Gold Country, plays out as echoes from another era, perfectly reflecting the former mining town setting where it was recorded.

“I feel like I’ve always had this music in my head,” Ragan explains of his kinder, gentler side. “I’ve always played it; I’ve always written it. Honesty, I was playing acoustic and writing on an acoustic before I even found the guys (in Hot Water Music). Even a lot of the early Hot Water Music stuff was written on acoustic guitar.”

And, a good song being a good song, that means Ragan can confidently present his guitar-bass-fiddle ballads to even a Dropkick Murphys crowd. Or, as he did recently, to Social Distortion crowds.

“I wasn’t sure how people were going to adapt to it,” Ragan admits of the latter billing. “But 75 per cent of the Social D crowd turned out to be either my age or older. So yeah, it was intimidating getting up in front of a band that I knew was going to blow it up. It definitely seemed like at first it would throw people off ― they weren’t exactly expecting anything acoustic ― but in the end we were blown away by the response.”

It helps, he adds, that five years into a solo career Ragan has put a bit of distance between himself and his former self. (This, despite occasionally reviving Hot Water Music.)

“The past four years it’s turned around,” he observes. “At least half the people that come up to me after a show have never heard Hot Water Music. They’ll say, ‘What’s Hot Water Music about?’ I just say, ‘Oh, man, bring your earplugs.’”