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Review: 'RINGENBERG, JASON'
'Rhinestoned'   

-  Label: 'Courageous Chicken Music'
-  Genre: 'Alt/Country' -  Release Date: '2nd April 2021'-  Catalogue No: 'CCE CD018'

Our Rating:
Rhinestones are gems which are famous for their healing qualities. They are also indelibly associated with country music thanks in no small part to the eye-catching Nudie Suits created by Nudie Cohn. This explains why Nashville Without Rhinestones would be a perfect hell according to Jason Ringenberg.

He describes this record as being populated by old souls and ghosts - both people and places - and one which examines his love-hate relationship with Music City.

Stoned on Rhinestones looks back on why he got hooked on country music in the first place: "I heard old Hank and I got deranged". To stress the point, he includes You Win Again , one of Hank Williams Sr's hits. This is one of three covers, the others being The Carter Family's The Storms Are On The Ocean , featuring a duet with Kristi Rose, and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' piece of hokum Time Warp ("it's a rockabilly music makes you silly in the head"). There is also a tone deaf Cowpunk version of Christ the Lord is Risen Today, a traditional Easter hymn dating back to the 1800s.

What started as a quiet solo project under Covid-19 restrictions quickly evolved into a team effort. The bare bones were made up of songs left over from his 'Stand Tall' album written in 2017 during his time as Artist-in-Residence at Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.

The producer is multi-instrumentalist George Bradfute, their first full project together since 2012. The album was recorded in Bradfute's studio is in the basement of country legend Jim Reeves.

Bradfute played most of the instruments. Other contributions come from Steve Ebe (drums) , Fats Kaplin (steel guitar and fiddle) and daughters Addie and Camille sing harmony vocals and played piano.

Two originals stand out from a strong collection of songs. The Freedom Rides Weren't Free is about young Black and white activists who challenged the segregated bus systems in the South during the early 1960s. Ringenberg places himself on the right side of history when he comments: "I believe the Civil Rights Movement was the Second American Revolution, and all who participated in it were true American heroes."

Better still is the scorching I Rode With Crazy Horse, the longest and best track. This is loosely based on an old Lakota/Oglala legend that one of Crazy Horse’s cousins rode and fought beside him.

To cut to the chase, the dirty dozen cow-punching classics on this album confirm Ringenberg as one of the Alt.Country greats.

As if there was ever any doubt.

Jason Ringenberg's website

  author: Martin Raybould

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RINGENBERG, JASON - Rhinestoned