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Empire Builders Nashville Rage 9 September 2004 Metrosexual is not a term that will ever be used to describe Jason Ringenberg. With his ever-present cowboy hat and twang, he couldn't get much more country. In an era of fear and international unrest, Jason found himself an unwilling target for complete strangers to berate him about U.S. foreign policy on a recent European tour. He filtered his experiences creatively through Empire Builders, joined by top-notch Nashville musicians George Bradfute, Fats Kaplan and Molly Felder. American Question expresses guilt for the things happening in the world that as Americans we can only sit back and watch. It's followed by Rebel Flag In Germany, where Jason muses that he "don't even want to see that flag in Tennessee." Jason covers Merle Haggard's wistful Rainbow Stew and pays tribute to two Native Americans in the songs Link Wray and Chief Joseph's Last Dream. (Chief Joseph is famous for the quote "I will fight no more forever.") Showing true to his cowpunk roots, Jason rocks while saluting Link Wray, the 75-year-old inventor of the power chord, last lamented in song by Southern Culture on the Skids on their song Link's Lung. Jason also sings about another hero, his father, in Half The Man, where Jason hopes to be "just half the man that you are and I try to be." Living in these crazy times, where so much is uncertain, at least we know we can always count on Jason Ringenberg as a voice of reason and honesty. Angie Glover