Lou Ragland “I Travel Alone”

O’Jays road manager, Don King prison chauffeur, window washer, house painter, Ink Spot, Domino, producer, engineer, label owner, guitorgan technician, and one-time steward of a coveted Jet Magazine delivery route, Lou Ragland is Cleveland’s Eastside success story. Though suffocated by Lake Erie’s nitrate rich waters and the burning oil from a Cuyahoga River fire, between 1967-1977 Lou Ragland produced the most thoughtful, hopeful, and downright soulful work to come out of the Forest City. Bookended by his dynamic albums Hot Chocolate and Understand Each Other, 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.