CD REVIEW: JASON RINGENBERG

By Barry Gilbert
Of the Post-Dispatch

July 8, 2002

Jason Ringenberg "All Over Creation" Yep Roc Records

The title pretty much sums it up: Jason Ringenberg, leader of country punkers Jason and the Scorchers, offers a slab of honky-tonk here, a dab of bluegrass there and lots of styles in between.

Ringenberg changes gears from his previous CD, the largely sweet and acoustic "Pocketful of Soul," and he has called in some friends. These include Steve Earle, who duets on "Bible and a Gun," a staple of Scorchers shows written by Earle and Ringenberg. In this slightly rewritten version, the protagonist has moved from the 20th century to Missouri during the Civil War. Other guests include Tommy Womack (a Twangfest highlight this year), Todd Snider and BR-549.

Ringenberg had a flirtation with Nashville a few years ago but, really, they wouldn't have him, and he wouldn't be caught dead there, anyway. Can you hear Kenny Chesney singing: "He staggered out of the sky on a hot Saturday night/ In a spaceship shaped like a bottle of rock and rye/ He had a shiny metal beer keg body/ and a head like a Mason jar\ He was a honky-tonk maniac from Mars"? I thought not.

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