Jason & the Scorchers

By Michael Gray
The Nashville Banner
Nashville, Tennessee - November 7, 1997

Copyright 1997-2004 The Nashville Banner

While no Nashville record collection would seem complete without some Jason & The Scorchers in it, the band’s barn-burning rep comes more from its fervid stage energy than it’s logged studio time. Now, at last, the Nashville rock vets are capturing that live fervor on disc.

Jason Ringenberg, Warner Hodges, Perry Baggs and new member Kenny Ames are taping performances tonight and Saturday at Exit/In, 2208 Elliston Place, to be released in the spring on Mammoth Records.

“We’ve hit a point where we can do a live record which doesn’t just capture the past, but shows a band that’s growing, as well,” says Ringenberg, the group’s charismatic lead singer. “The whole chemistry of the band changed with last year’s Clear Impetuous Morning. The band moved forward creatively. We proved we could still write good songs and make a great studio record. We don’t feel this is an interim, filler-type project, like most live records made these days. We’re going all out with this one. We’re spending as much money on it as we would a studio album.”

Guitarist Hodges, who is producing the concert outing, says the Scorchers have been batting around the idea of a live recording for years. Original bassist Jeff Johnson, who left the Scorchers fold early this year, began harping on the idea a decade ago.

“The live aspect of the band has been so important,” he says, “we didn’t want to do it as just some after thought. I want to make sure we put out a true representation of the live band.”

Ringenberg and Hodges are grateful Mammoth is giving the Scorchers the green light, despite the fact it will be tough to sell the live material to radio programmers. “Early in our career we slit our throat trying to get radio hits at the detriment of doing good Jason & The Scorchers records,” admits Hodges. “We would love to have hits, but we also need to stick with what we do best. “For 15 or 16 years, we worried and worried about radio. Now I just say forget it, let’s just be Jason & The Scorchers and do records we’re proud of.”

The shows, which begin at 9 p.m., will draw heavily from the Scorchers’ three best albums - Fervor, Lost And Found and Clear Impetuous Morning. Saturday’s show will be filmed and will feature a cameo appearance by longtime Scorchers associate Jerry Dale McFadden.

Admission is $10 - per night - at the door. Call 321-4400 for information.

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