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All Over Creation Times Online 26 April 2002 Enough of the God stuff already, but in the uphill battle to give trad Americana a fresh slant, Bern has got further than most. Not, however, as far as Jason Ringenberg with All Over Creation (Shoeshine), an album which marks a spectacular return to form by one of the most overlooked country-rock pioneers still in business. Last spotted in the 1980s when, as leader of Jason and the Scorchers, he would routinely scale theatre balconies from the stage, Ringenberg gained a reputation as one of the most dynamic live performers of his generation, while leaving few decent songs. Here that shortcoming is rectified at last, as he teams up with heavyweights including Lambchop, the Wildhearts, BR5-49 and Paul Burche to produce an album that mixes picaresque tales of the Old West with great melodies and an often rollicking backbeat. Best of all is a fiddle and banjo-driven duet with Steve Earle about the travails of an itinerant Missouri preacher. Never mind the 20th century — here’s a place where cowboys still get to ride tall on the range, and the song is once again very much king.