His second proper full-length for Sideonedummy (though he's got all sorts of live, one-off and assorted stuff out there) finds the Hot Water Music frontman in more expansive and ambitious style, though more in terms of feel than instrumentation. Gold Country remains driven by acoustic guitar and Americana influence; most tunes are augmented by at least a fiddle, and a handful feature full-band arrangements. It's the spirit of the songs themselves that seems more developed this time around. Not content to recycle dark, ruminative three-chord punk-country tropes (excellent, heartfelt closer “Get Em All Home” aside), Ragan has fashioned a rollicking yet mature and mostly upbeat collection that evokes Springsteen, Celtic pub jams and even the populist prairie rock of John Cougar Mellencamp as readily as it does Hank Williams, Gram Parsons and the rest of the usual insurgent-country touchstones. - Portnoy Jones