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A Pocketful of Soul

Sunday Republican (three stars)
August 27, 2000

Even when he was playing his kickin' brand of full-force fury for years while fronting Jason and the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg was a country boy at heart. 

He gets back down to his down-home roots with this intimate acoustic set, his first solo album since 1991. From the opening cut, "Oh Lonesome Prairie," this is deep country and a lot of it sounds like it could have fit just right on a 1950's honky tonk juke box. Occasionally a tad too sentimental ("For Addie Rose") the album nerveless carries some evocative themes and a couple of cuts in particular rank with Ringenbergs best. "The Price of Progress" tells a powerful tale of a family who lost their farm when it was flooded to make a damn in 1938, while "The Last of the Neon Cowboys," which was co-authored by Kevin Welch vividly captures an old-time country singer who's spent his whole life singing in bars. 

One of Nashville's real under-rated talents, Ringenberg makes the most of the chance to let his songwriting shine with "A Pocketful of Soul." The disc also includes an impressive Appalachian-styled cover of Johnny Horton's "Whispering Pines."