“I’m always trying to do something different because I feel like if we’re not searching, we’re not learning,” says ultimate folk troubadour, punk pioneer, and fly-fisherman extraordinaire Chuck Ragan about his new album LOVE AND LORE (Rise Records) which is set for release on October 25, 2024. “My writing approach seems to be whatever the song needs or wherever the song takes you, just let it breathe.”

That sums up his fiery first solo collection in a decade as well as his career as co-frontman of perennial punk band Hot Water Music and a legendary solo artist. Always pushing boundaries and defying genres, Chuck’s music constantly strives for and, more importantly, achieves the rare distinction of being both groundbreaking yet feeling quite distinctly Chuck. His new single, the fiery rocker “Wild In Our Ways” is a perfect example. The chiming guitar attack that launches the track sounds harder than most of Chuck’s solo material, but the second his instantly recognizable and road-worn vocals enter the picture, it drapes you with that comforting Chuck Ragan™ warmth, like a flannel blanket around a campfire.

A song of survival and struggle, “Wild In Our Ways” is a defiant anthem that pulls for the underdog and lifts him up high. “We could say anything and / Love the dirt on an endless road / We’re not meant to be alone / Stop dead in tracks we sing / We’re not meant to surrender, not meant to bow out,” he sings with fist-up, blue collar conviction. The one theme throughout all of this is the way that Chuck approaches everything with a level of honesty and integrity that can’t be faked—and that sentiment is undeniable on Love And Lore, his first solo collection in ten years.