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Empire Builders

Mojo (3 out of 5 stars)
January, 2005
The flood of anti-Bush albums from sincerely patriotic American artists continues apace as Ringenberg blows the top off his leopard-skin Stetson in songs angrily registering his disgust at his government’s foreign policy. After a dozen albums with his trail-blazing band the Scorchers and five solo outings, Ringenberg’s lost none of his anti-establishment spirit or his clear focus. He still delivers even his most complex and controversial thoughts in the simplest of terms, not unlike a hill-Billy Bragg, leaving no doubt about his leanings, whether he’s railing against the treatment of native American s in Chief Joseph’s Last Dream, expressing his shame at seeing the Confederate flag flying in Europe in Rebel Flag In Germany, or sticking it to the White House in American Question, a tub-thumping poem set to hambone-like riffs. The spirit of Woody Guthrie rocks on in daddy Ringenberg’s boy.

Johnny Black