Love music? Meet acoustic performer Chuck Ragan

Everyone loves music. Everyone has a favorite singer or

band.

Some of us hate it when they are just in it for the money, drugs

or oodles of publicity.

But not Chuck Ragan, I firmly believe he is out to save American

music.

Everyone loves music. Everyone has a favorite singer or band.

Some of us hate it when they are just in it for the money, drugs or oodles of publicity.

But not Chuck Ragan, I firmly believe he is out to save American music.

Ragan is the former front man for Hot Water Music, who now performs his own raw, acoustic songs and is currently touring with Social Distortion, The Aggrolites and Lucero until the end of February.

He's the topic of my column because, apart from writing songs that make your heart swell happily inside your chest, he's trying to return music to sounding the same live or on an album and play for the sake of the music.

I don't know about you, but I am ready to bid stadium bands farewell and say hello to real musicians who play and sing their hearts out whether or not they get a fat paycheck at the end of the show.

Ragan was kind enough to chat with me before last Saturday's show in Seattle. He was incredibly gracious and open, which didn't really surprise me, but is something musicians who play sold-out shows are not usually known for.

The man lives for music, and has not only started a record label with his wife, but started The Revival Tour "to expose music and musicians that we believe in."

"I was really blessed to meet who I feel were the right people years ago who taught me that music could be more about passion," says Ragan as he cracked open a Guinness in preparation for our chat. "Music could be about giving it everything you got and cutting yourself open and exposing it all rather than trying to be cool or trying to fit into a genre or trying to hide behind something.

"There's pros and cons to that, singing songs the way a lot of me and my buddies sing songs is a really personal thing. Over the course of doing it for a lot of years there's not much to hide behind. If you're going to get out and play honest songs and basically wear your heart on your sleeve you're just exposing yourself completely. But I honestly couldn't see it any other way."

In terms of honest music, there aren't any laser shows or whirling drum sets in Ragan's performances.

Harmonica, guitar, upright bass, fiddle "and some singing" are what Ragan performs with on stage as well as on his albums.

"What's important to me is just to make a record that when people hear it and they come see one of these shows they can really tie the two of them together," says Ragan. "I haven't really done that other than the 'Los Feliz' record, we're looking to do something very grass roots, very organic and stripped down."

With eight full-length albums and another set to be released later this year, there is so much good music to choose from. You can appreciate it even more knowing it was made by a guy who still believes in the songs he writes, works as a carpenter and says his wife is his biggest inspiration and "just the one person who keeps me waking up every day."

"I mean the songs can definitely influence you. You see your friends doing something and stepping up to the plate or put out a new record and you listen to it and think, man I've got to step up my game. It's great, not in a competition way, but in that we're all pushing each other to the next level," Ragan says.

And for one, I feel hopeful that Ragan's honesty, enthusiasm and hard work will bring around other musicians who see it like he does.

I hope there's lots of them.

Shantra Hannibal is the Columbia Basin Herald health and education reporter. She is quite the fan of Mr. Ragan and recommends everyone should try listening to his music at www.chuckraganmusic.com.