About latest release, Dry County Courier: Roots music today seems to have more polish, than roots. Jason has decided to fix that. "Dry County Courier" along with his first album "Patchwork" breaks all the rules of modern recording, playing, and interpretation of the music. Here you will hear only first takes. Not only does this show appreciation for the origins of American musics, but also provides a welcoming warm, live sound. Warm and welcoming as it may be, this CD also has an uplifting high energy drive that makes you feel as if you're in the room while he is recording. All in all, what you hear is a down home country boy who would rather entertain with music and songs, than to dazzle with tricks and speed. But, if you listen close...... those are there too. Jason Ring 1st Place Winner - Banjo Competition 1st Place Winner - Guitar Competition 2010 Virginia Bluegrass Music State Championships - VA Folk Music Association (Sep 19, 2010) IBMA has included Jason Ring's previous album, Patchwork, as part of the "Fresh Sounds in the World of Bluegrass" for Jan/Feb 2008. "Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Jason Ring developed an appreciation of bluegrass, folk, Delta blues and all styles in between—creating the musical “patchwork” of influences heard on this CD. In the annual Virginia Bluegrass Music State Championships, Jason won five awards during the past two years in the Dobro, banjo and guitar categories. Known as a “one man country-bluegrass-blues band,” Jason plays most stringed instruments and has been known to throw in scat singing and the “mouth trumpet” flugel." - International Bluegrass Music Association (Jan, 2008) Jason Ring 2nd Place Winner - Banjo Competition 2nd Place Winner - Dobro Competition 2nd Place Winner - Guitar Competition 2008 Virginia Bluegrass Music State Championships - VA Folk Music Association (Sep 14, 2008) Review of Jason Ring's first album, Patchwork: "Lovely collection of acoustic folk, country and bluegrass from major star in the making - Jason Ring is one of those guys you’d hate if he wasn’t so nice and unassuming. Not only does he play guitar, mandolin, banjo and resonator (and a few more) but he plays them all superbly, and he does so in a nicely understated style that fits his music, rather than just showing off his chops. Said music is a gumbo of styles, from bluegrass to jazz, folk to ragtime, to name but four. His album is perfectly titled, as not only is it a patchwork of styles but it’s like one of those patchwork quilts that are worked across generations, with each successive quilter taking on the previous work and adding something that is both new and fits in with the old perfectly. To cap it all Ring is a decent writer too, and whether it’s an instrumental like Simplify or the scatting Jebediah’s Heartbreak his songs fit in perfectly alongside traditional pieces like Working On A Building and Train 45 and an inspired reading of the Carter Family favourite Gold Watch and Chain. Even his anti-Nashville song, Welcome to Nashville, breathes some life into that tired genre. There’s a couple of covers too, Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, which is a bit too cheery to really work well, and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which is anything but and as understatedly effective as Jeff Buckley’s diametrically opposed take. Ring feels his music, and makes the listener feel it too. There are few people who can play like him and fewer who have anything like his collection of talents. With a bit of luck, a bit of exposure and plenty more PATCHWORK-standard music he could be the next big thing…and deservedly so." JS - Maverick Magazine - Feb 2008 issue (Jan, 2008)