Jason Ringenberg
All Over Creation (Yep Roc)On his second solo album away from alt.country pioneers the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg pulls together a series of duets with some like-minded, other-side-of-the-tracks Nashville friends. An inspired collection, it features the likes of Steve Earle, Paul Burch, BR5-49, Todd Snider, Lambchop, and Tommy Womack, and it’s all done in Ringenberg’s familiar, ragged-but-right way. Taking some his own tunes and mixing them with covers from the songbooks of George Jones (“I Dreamed My Baby Came Home”) and Loretta Lynn (“Don’t Come Home a Drinkin'(With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”), Ringenberg visits a wide variety of styles. Of course, there’s some high-energy country rock, like the set opening “Honky Tonk Maniac From Mars” performed with former local talkin’ punk maniac Hamell on Trail. But there’s also introspection, as on the haunting cover of the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s (of Gun Club fame) “Mother of Earth,” with Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin lending a hand. Meanwhile, his collaborations with BR5-49 and Burch are, as expected, straight honky-tonk and swing like mad. All Over Creation demonstrates that Ringenberg still possesses a reckless country soul, and isn’t afraid of taking any chances. (Jason & the Scorchers play Antone’s anniversary, Thursday, July 18.)
This article appears in July 12 • 2002.