Biography
Praise the Lord and Pass the Rhinestones!
Renowned music critic Peter Cooper once said, “Jason Ringenberg is Nashville’s greatest 20th-century rock ‘n’ roll frontman.” With statements like that, you would think Jason might rest on his laurels now that he is in his 60s. Not so. His new record Rhinestoned once again sets Ringenberg on a collision course with people’s souls. It reaffirms the claim that not only is he one of rock ‘n’ roll's greatest frontmen but also one of the preeminent singer-songwriters of his generation.
His journey started in the 1960s Midwest, a place straight out of Norman Rockwell's America. He was born and raised on an Illinois hog farm that bordered the Rock Island Line Railroad. At an early age he heard classic country artists on his dad’s truck radio but also was exposed to the 1960s singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Neil Young by his older siblings. He attended college at Southern Illinois University, studying history and music. He played banjo in a bluegrass band called Gary, Jason, and Chico. After seeing The Ramones in a dorm basement cafeteria, he immediately quit the bluegrass band and formed his own punk rock group, Shakespeare’s Riot, gaining notoriety around Southern Illinois as one of the first regional bands to combine classic country with raw punk rock.
