Empire Builders

Performing Songwriter (three and a half stars)
As the frontman of punk-country heroes Jason & the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg has built a long career on knowing how to fire up crowds. Now, on his fifth solo album, he’s hoping to get people revved up about his message. Though the overtly political Empire Builders was inspired predominantly by Ringenberg’s travels around the world as a touring musician, his tales of war and protest transcend one era. One of the album’s strongest tracks is the rousing “Tuskegee Pride,” written from the perspective of a Tuskegee airman. Though Ringenberg branches out lyrically, he strides musically in his tried and true areas of country (the lovely ballad “She Hung the Moon (Until It Died)” and the musically sweet “Eddie Rode the Orphan Train”) and rock (the Warren Zevon-esque “Rebel Flag in Germany” and “Rainbow Stew”). Regardless of whether or not you agree with Ringenberg’s point of view, he makes a convincing and enjoyable case to hear him out.

SB