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Joey G's Madison, Indiana August 27, 2004 Joey G''s reverberated with the energy given off by the two gentlemen who graced its stage on Friday night, singer-songwriter Don Pedigo, and alt-country pioneer Jason Ringenberg, both of whom accompanied themselves on just their acoustic-electric guitars. That being said, they are probably two people who strive to get the most out of those two guitars. Indiana-born and (now) Nashville-based singer-songwriter Pedigo has a style that goes down very smoothly. He is as capable of and comfortable with doing a raw, Memphis-style blues complete with bottleneck slide as he is with his own compositions, such as the gentle ballad, "Indiana", which is a love letter to his home state (think John Denver); watch out, though, 'cause he'll whip out some Steve Earle on you! He opened the evening with a fine, polished set, backed by his easygoing country-rock guitar playing and excellent harmonica. I have personally always thought his voice is like that of former singer for The Verve, Richard Ashcroft, toughened with Hoosier grit. If Don Pedigo is the young understudy, Jason Ringengberg is Jedi Master....The man is a consummate showman, frontman (although he is a one-man band) and storyteller through both songs and the anecdotes he seems to string them together with. For over twenty years, he has written some of the finest songs of the genre he helped create and perpetuate for all of the years hence. Forgive my wordy laurels when it comes to Jason, but, gollleee! It's really difficult to be anywhere but Cloud Nine when he steps on the stage, decked out in his junior Rhinestone Cowboy attire, golden shirt seeming to make him glow bright as his perpetual grin. He has a ton of tunes in his arsenal, drawn part from his days with Jason and the Scorchers, and part from his solo career. Jason had some very ardent fans who would shout out requests when he asked, but if any of the Joeyg's crowd on Friday night weren't fans before, they were before the night was through. He was his old Scorchers frontman self on the more uptempo and fun numbers, a lot more somber when he introduced some new material, coming out soon on his new "Empire Builders" CD, such as the folk ballad remembering the Tuskeegee Airmen (the squad of African-American WWII fighter pilots). The new CD is described by Jason as more serious than his releases in the past; he held back a little on the new stuff, leaning more on the past, which delighted old and new fans alike. The crowd was treated to two unforgettable examples of Ringenberg showmanship toward the end of the evening. He recounted a hilarious example of an uncomfortable experience, with a drunken lady audience member in Europe who kept coming up onstage, demanding that he perform a Carpenters' song, which he repeatedly refused to do. He then juxtaposed that with a story of traveling through the unspoiled country of Alaska, only to find a Wal-Mart supercenter in the middle of it all. The resulting song combined The Carpenters' pop-country hit "Top Of The World" with his personal feelings about the world's largest retail chain; unbelievably clever and funny. Later on, after the show was supposedly through, Jason Ringenberg, with no mike, guitar in hand, threaded his way through the middle of the room.....and proceeded, in the throes of kinetic energy, to jump up and dance on the bar (!!!!)! Before that last, spontaneous act, Don Pedigo and Jason Ringenberg played The Band's classic, "The Weight", together. Their voices and guitars seemed to intertwine almost perfectly as though they'd been playing together for years. Don holds Jason up as a long-time hero; the young understudy has learned very well and as for the Jedi Master....I think he's very proud. The best we can do to give you a taste of the show is to post some photos we shot and possibly a sound clip or two; if you weren't there, you missed magic Joey G