Chuck Ragan - Break Our Bread

The two songs on the b-side of this record both appeared in the same form on the split with Anderson Family Bluegrass so the only song I'll write about here is Will the Circle Be Unbroken. It's an old-ish bluegrass song that Chuck has covered live from time to time. It's a nice tune and Chuck's gravely vocals work nicely with it. He does sad songs like this just as well as uplifting ones like California Burritos.

The other two are pretty nice, but I've said that before. Since the chances of me ever completing my Chuck Ragan collection get smaller with each obscure 7" that appears, records like this seem a bit redundant, but it is a very nice 7". Interestingly (for record geeks), the labels are on the wrong sides here: side A in the picture below has two tracks and plays side B and vice versa.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Gig
When: 23/03/10
Colour: Black
Etching: no
mp3s: no

Chuck Ragan + Anderson Family Bluegrass - Split

Another from my far-from-complete Chuck Ragan collection. Not the cheapest, or most necessary record, but a nice one regardless. The first song is Revival Road, the song that came to represent the Revival Tour very well. I love the idea behind the Revival Tour and I was pleased they brought it over here last year - there are a lot of great artists involved, all making lovely songs. The next two are In The Clouds and Live By The Sword (a live version with Paige Anderson of Anderson Family Bluegrass) and are both on the Break Our Bread 7". Both are good songs.

Paige has a fairly shrill voice, but it works with the music (particularly next to Chuck's singing). That said, it still catches me off-guard each time I put the needle on the second side. Two more nice songs. Chuck gets a joint writing credit on the second song but doesn't sing. He could well be playing guitar though. I really know nothing about Anderson Family Bluegrass, I suppose the idea is the record will make me check them out. I like the songs but, ultimately, they're just less to my taste.

I picked this up when Chuck toured with Frank Turner a couple of years ago. I went to two nights of that tour (London and Portsmouth); I'm a big fan of both artists and knew people who'd want to go in each city. Chuck played Kingston without Frank a few nights later, but I had to go to Cambridge for a conference so couldn't make it. A rare example of my PhD taking priority over music. It's a nice coloured record and only 9 inches across, a format I assumed reserved for Nine Inch Nails singles. Kinda expensive though.

Chuck Ragan has been quite prolific over the last few years in putting out 7"s here and there, and the early ones are pretty hard to come by, so it's pretty fair to say it'll never be a complete collection. I can still enjoy the records I do have like this one though.


Format: 9"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Gig
When: 23/03/10
Colour: Green and clear
Etching: none
mp3s: no