  |
||||||||
 
|
 |
|||||||
|
Luckenbach blowout: Keen's 'artist-friendly' show to mark Scorchers' return By Jim Beal Jr.; Express-News Arts
Writer Copyright 1998 San Antonio Express-News
Sunday, the hamlet of Luckenbach will be music central as Keen presents the La bor Day Texas Uprising, the third installment of the Uprising format. The bill includes Monte Montgomery, Charlie Robison, Toni Price, Jason & the Scorchers, Cowboy Mouth and the Robert Earl Keen Show. "There are a couple of goals," Keen said. "First, I want to make these shows really, really artist- friendly. Second, I'm just trying to bring on people who don't get a chance to play for several thousand people." It's a safe bet the artists will take advantage. Take Jason & the Scorchers. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of bands are now fusing hard-core country with ripping rock 'n' roll. When Jason Ringenberg and the Scorchers blasted out of Nashville about 18 years ago, groups such as the Backsliders, the Waco Brothers, Wilco and Son Volt were nowhere in sight. "In the South, it was scary," said Scorchers' guitar-burner Warner Hodges. "We started out playing in a lot of punk clubs because that was the only place we could play. A lot of our fan base now are punk rockers who got into country through us. Back then, it wasn't cool to like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, George Jones and Hank Williams. Back then, you weren't allowed to like both kinds of music, much less combine them." Combine them the Scorchers did via albums such as "Fervor" and "Lost & Found." The discs fired up a small cadre of fans but didn't make much of a commercial dent. The band broke up and then re- formed a few years later. Always as much of a live band as a studio unit, the Scorchers are now working with an album, "Midnight Roads & Stages Seen," recorded live in Nashville, that captures the essence of the quartet - great songwriting, clever covers and absolutely rocking twang. "After 17 years, I still don't have a pat description of the band's sound," Hodges said with a laugh. "I always thought I was in a rock band that came from a country standpoint. Jason sees it differently. He thinks he's in a country band that plays some rock." Hodges' buzzsaw guitar is almost as prominent as Ringenberg's no-nonsense vocals. "I'm up in his face," Hodges said. "He should win, but he should just barely win. The vocals should always win, but I want that guitar to push him." Drummer Perry Baggs, who also does a lot of the group's songwriting, and bassist Kenny Ames aren't slouches, either. "What's kept us together is what keeps us on the verge of breaking up," Hodges said with another laugh. "Everybody has fronted their own bands and everybody wants to be out front. Being in this band is like having three wives. The other side of the coin is I know I'm not the easiest guy in the world to get along with." A band that will play versions of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" alongside rave-up original country-rockers such as "Pray For Me Mama (I'm a Gypsy Now)" and "Broken Whiskey Glass" will do an unpredictable live show. "We go on with the first three songs set and from there it just happens," Hodges added. "It's a blast for us every night." Labor Day
Texas Uprising -
© 1998-2001 San Antonio Express-News — All Rights Reserved |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|