Cut Me Down & Count My Rings

Personnel: John Ringhofer (vocals, whistling, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, classical guitar, banjo, whistle, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, piano, organ, pump organ, melodion, omnichord, glockenspiel, bass guitar, drums, drum machine, maracas, tambourine, triangle, wood block, hand claps, bells, loops); Sufjan Stevens (guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, recorder, piano, toy piano, organ, drums, tambourine, background vocals); Nedelle Torrisi (violin); Bert Hiscock (cello).
Audio Mixers: John Ringhofer; Sufjan Stevens.
Arrangers: John Ringhofer; Sufjan Stevens.
Cut Me Down & Count My Rings collects 46 (they're really short) B-sides, compilation appearances, download-only tracks, Christmas songs, and whatever else Half-Handed Cloud (aka John Ringhofer) could find under the bed onto a single disc. Ringhofer, a straight-up D.I.Y. faith-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and performance artist who splits his time between crafting magical and whimsical lo-fi Christian indie pop and playing the trombone in Sufjan Stevens magical and whimsical orchestra pit, quite literally gushes optimism and childlike wonder. His eccentric arrangements and quirky melodies fall somewhere between Cloud Cult and the Flaming Lips without either's production values. Cut Me Down & Count My Rings, being a random assortment of leftovers, latecomers, and spontaneous emissions, hardly works as a stand-alone album, but patient listeners who are tuned in to Ringhofer's righteous rainbow of song will find more than a few gold coins to take home. ~ James Christopher Monger