Jason Ringenberg has been credited with influencing the roots-based surge in indie-country-rock fusion movement of the mid 80s which, in part, lead to the present genre, Americana.
Building on his work, bands and solo artists have taken the style to a far
greater level in terms of overall quality. Listening to some of this work, it
sounds almost twee and amateurish by today’s standards. His voice is also very
weak for the rough ‘n’ ready stuff. This whopping back-catalogue spanning 28
years has some dreadfully dated material – Punk Rock Skunk for example,
combined with some good up-to-date songs.
Illinois Ringenberg’s forte is at the softer end of countrified rootsy ballads
like The Price Of Progress, and pedal steel driven ballad She Hung The Moon
and divine Addie Rose.
Shuffling country rocker Shop It Around is decent enough a start, but
bluesy The Life Of The Party is rather shambolic, and dated.
Bible And A Gun (with Steve Earl) and A Pocketful Of Soul are the kind of songs Bruce
Springsteen laid down on his tribute to Pete Seeger (We Shall Overcome:
The Seeger Sessions), and it’s noticeable that the quality of songwriting
has vastly improved due to Earl’s co-writing credit on Bible And A Gun.
He also does a good job on the hoe-down romp of lightweight Rainbow Stew,
which surely gives a nod to the wonderful Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Like the
song of the same name by Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run, is a belting
rocker complete with bottle neck slides, chomping piano and catchy chorus, while
Prosperity Train owes much to Stevie Ray Vaughan’s high-octane blues.
Arguably, the album’s finest moments are the country sways of Eddie Rode The Orphan Train
and jaunty Half The Man. Moose On The Loose has a heavy '60s influence and
is a real fun track with a punchy comedic hook.
Just when things were getting seriously classy on a duet with Kristi Rose,
Ringenberg destroys the mellow Lovely Christmas with maddening rock blasts.
When Ringenberg hits form, it’s exceptional, but far too rare. Mom’s 70th Birthday Song
is a sweet dedication to his mother, and possibly his best vocal performance by
a mile.
There are 30 tracks, all of which can be seen via the Amazon link above,
and these include Shop It Around, Camille With Swan Drive, She Hung The
Moon, Rainbow, Born To Run, A Pocketful Of Soul, Half The Man, The Sailor’s
Eyes, Who’s Gonna Feed Them Hogs?
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
