Lou Ragland I Travel Alone

O’Jays road manager, Don King prison chauffeur, window washer, house painter, Ink Spot, Domino, engineer, label owner, guitorgan technician, and one-time steward of a coveted Jet Magazine delivery route, Lou Ragland is Cleveland’s Eastside success story. Suffocated by Lake Erie’s nitrate-rich waters and the burning oil from a Cuyahoga River fire, between 1967 and 1977 Lou Ragland produced the most thoughtful, hopeful, and downright soulful work to emerge from the Forest City. Bookended by his dynamic Hot Chocolate and Understand Each Other albums, I Travel Alone gathers period singles, collaborations, and an unreleased live album cut in 1973, revealing a Cleveland genius in a musical microcosm of fearless and confident creation. Packaged in an attractive slipcase, the quadruple LP features handsome gatefolds, and a booklet of never-before-seen photos of the Bandmaster at various stages of his career. Detailed liner notes follow renaissance man and storyteller Ragland along the peaks and valleys of a dynamic career that yielded a wealth of innovative music.