Empire Builders

River Cities Reader Online
September 1, 2004

Jason Delivers a Political Scorcher
A founding father of the roots-punk alternative-country scene with Jason & The Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg takes up a political picket in his new solo album, Empire Builders, due this coming Tuesday on the Yep Roc imprint. Featuring Nashville’s best session players – such as fiddler Fats Kaplan and multi-instrumentalist George Bradfute – Ringenberg reveals a passionate, authentic American voice as the songs mull our nation’s foreign-trade policies and American shame in songs “New-Fashioned Imperialist” and “Rebel Flag in Germany.” Other highlights include tributes to two diverse North American icons – Link Wray and Chief Joseph of Nez Perce Indians – a cover of Merle Haggard’s “Rainbow Stew,” and the cowboy-cool Beat-poet-flavored “American Reprieve.”

John James