It was a little more than two decades ago when Pagosa Springs-based musicians Chris Rapp and Chris Haas began their musical partnership. Vocalist Haas had asked guitar player Rapp about playing in a country band, and while that band never happened, others did. Those bands included Dixie Wrecked and Knucka, Ebeniezer and the Crooked Hookers, and the now active, seven-member band Ragwater, who in addition to Rapp and Haas are Glen Goss, Jason Dockter, Brooks Lindner, Andy Spall and Dione Patterson-Webb.
Along the way, the two have amassed a healthy catalog of tunes, which includes riffs and rhythms waiting to be put into song. Some of those old riffs have made their way into cuts on “Shifting Shapes,” the latest Ragwater album, which will be celebrated with a show Saturday at the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts.
If you go
WHAT: Ragwater Record Release Party.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts, 2313 Eagle Drive, Pagosa Springs.
TICKETS: $10.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.pagosacenter.org.
Parts of these songs date back 20 years.
“The guitar riff off ‘Arms of Your Maker’ is a guitar riff that was played back in the Dixie Wrecked days, and it took until we wrote the song and finished it up and put it on this album,” Rapp said. “There’s a song that Haas and I did when we originally started Ragwater as just the two of us that we brought to the band. We finished recording it and included with the new songs we’re doing now. So, this album literally has stuff going back 20 years that we just finished up now.”
The band has made an album in the most traditional sense. This is not a collection of stand-alone singles, but a cohesive collection of songs that flow from one to the next.
“Leave me Alone” has a heavy, Southern-rock vibe, while “Spider Eyes” is an 8-minute, stoner-rock and psychedelic-blues marvel. “Lay Me Down” is a charging blast of ’70s boogie rock, and “Open Sea” is a slow and dramatic instrumental piece.
It’s an album that’s a reflection of digging into diverse musical and personal inspiration; it’s a record loaded with feeling.
“Even though this is more of a rock ’n’ roll record, it has a lot of different styles to it,” Rapp said. “There’s rock, there’s bluesy stuff, there’s all sorts on this album.”
“There’s a bluesy, soul aspect to our music that I think is the heart of our sound,” Haas added. “We’ve got a lot of influences – everything from punk rock to classical to everything in between. Heavy metal, roots-based and rhythm based, and we try to tap into that soulful sound.”
The album release show will be a celebration not only of this Pagosa Springs rock band, but of Pagosa Springs musicians. The stage will be packed already as Ragwater is a big band. They’ve also left room for appearances from a few friends.
“We wanted to make this a special show. Pagosa has a strong musical community, and it’s not hard to find people that you love playing with who’ve played with us before,” Haas said. “Bob Hemenger is going to be on sax for a couple tunes, he’s jumped on stage with us multiple times, we love playing with Bob. Our good friend Matt Degelman, he goes back with us, he’s going to be playing harp on a couple songs with us. And then Robin Davis, he’s an area favorite and a well-known bluegrass musician. He’ll be playing fiddle with us on a couple songs.”
More musicians just add more to the musical good times, and more to the pushing of the musical boundaries.
“We always like people to come and sit in and jam with us too,” Rapp said. “It keeps it fresh and fun.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
