Gypsies Now - Essays

The Trouser Press Record Guide, Fourth Edition

Ira A. Robbins, Editor
Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Company, New York, 1991

Jason and the Scorchers

Reckless Country Soul EP (Praxis) 1982
Fervor EP (Praxis) 1983 (EMI America) 1984
Lost and Found (EMI America) 1985
Still Standing (EMI America) 1986
Thunder and Fire (A&M) 1989

In 1981, as the legend goes, Jason Ringenberg left his daddy's Illinois hog farm for the bright lights of Nashville and promptly stumbled upon guitarist Warner Hodges and bassist Jeff Johnson in a gutter. With drummer Perry Baggs, they became Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, and recorded a bunch of tunes on a 4-track during a drunken night in the studio. The resulting Reckless Country Soul EP, a 7-inch released by a local indie label, is rough-hewn and half-realized, but enough to help the band earn a rep as the best country-metal-thrash band in the state of Tennessee.

Rigorous touring and a rep for wild shows helped spread the Scorchers' noisy mutant gospel. They play tighter and nastier on Fervor, displaying Ringenberg's knack for clever songwriting. The band signed to a major label, dropped Nashville from their name, and saw their second EP reissued with the addition of a smoking version of Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie".

Lost and Found puts the Scorchers in the forefront of an ever-growing country-punk genre, only they've got the roots others lack: Hodges' folks toured with Johnny Cash, Baggs' dad sang gospel and Johnson was reared in the Blue Ridge Mountains. More than just a pedigree to brag about, the band's genuine hick beginnings make them a lot less inhibited and more apt to cross from cool to corny, punk to heavy metal without fretting too much about it. There's great tension between Ringenberg's two sides - bible-quoting, straitlaced country boy and yelping, flailing, demon-possessed madman - and the cigarette-chomping, white-noise-mongering Hodges. On Lost and Found, Jason and the Scorchers burn like nothing since General Sherman's troops marched through Georgia.

Still Standing was produced by Tom Werman (Cheap Trick, Motley Crue, Poison), who captured the Scorchers' melodic power without overdoing it or pushing any obvious commercial concessions down their throats. The folky "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait" and the equally optimistic "Crashin' Down" are as pretty, memorable and uplifting as anything they've done; "Shotgun Blues" and "Ghost Town" give Hodges plenty of encouragement to unleash his wildest electric dreams. A charging cover of "19th Nervous Breakdown" acknowledges the band's clear debt to the Stones and proves that Jason and the boys know just how to treat a piece of classic rock.

By the time the Scorchers delivered their long-come (and long-gone: they broke up soon afterwards) third album, the group was sporting a second guitarist and a new bassist. Rather than successfully integrating the group's stylistic impulses, Thunder and Fire divides them into reheated rockers that short the Scorchers' personality and semi-acoustic country numbers that seem out of place. With Jason's good-ol'-boy voice undercutting Hodges' raucous guitar fury (and vice versa), only "Bible and a Gun" (co-written by Steve Earle), Phil Ochs' propulsive "My Kingdom For a Car" and the bluesy "Away From You" mix up a truly potent blend.


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News Meet The Scorchers Learn Back to Essays > Look	The Trouser Press Record Guide, Fourth Edition Ira A. Robbins, Editor Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing Company, New York, 1991 Jason and the Scorchers Reckless Country Soul EP (Praxis) 1982 Fervor EP (Praxis) 1983 (EMI America) 1984 Lost and Found (EMI America) 1985 Still Standing (EMI America) 1986 Thunder and Fire (A&M) 1989 In 1981, as the legend goes, Jason Ringenberg left his daddy's Illinois hog farm for the bright lights of Nashville and promptly stumbled upon guitarist Warner Hodges and bassist Jeff Johnson in a gutter. With drummer Perry Baggs, they became Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, and recorded a bunch of tunes on a 4-track during a drunken night in the studio. The resulting Reckless Country Soul EP, a 7-inch released by a local indie label, is rough-hewn and half-realized, but enough to help the band earn a rep as the best country-metal-thrash band in the state of Tennessee. Rigorous touring and a rep for wild shows helped spread the Scorchers' noisy mutant gospel. They play tighter and nastier on Fervor, displaying Ringenberg's knack for clever songwriting. The band signed to a major label, dropped Nashville from their name, and saw their second EP reissued with the addition of a smoking version of Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie". Lost and Found puts the Scorchers in the forefront of an ever-growing country-punk genre, only they've got the roots others lack: Hodges' folks toured with Johnny Cash, Baggs' dad sang gospel and Johnson was reared in the Blue Ridge Mountains. More than just a pedigree to brag about, the band's genuine hick beginnings make them a lot less inhibited and more apt to cross from cool to corny, punk to heavy metal without fretting too much about it. There's great tension between Ringenberg's two sides - bible-quoting, straitlaced country boy and yelping, flailing, demon-possessed madman - and the cigarette-chomping, white-noise-mongering Hodges. On Lost and Found, Jason and the Scorchers burn like nothing since General Sherman's troops marched through Georgia. Still Standing was produced by Tom Werman (Cheap Trick, Motley Crue, Poison), who captured the Scorchers' melodic power without overdoing it or pushing any obvious commercial concessions down their throats. The folky "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait" and the equally optimistic "Crashin' Down" are as pretty, memorable and uplifting as anything they've done; "Shotgun Blues" and "Ghost Town" give Hodges plenty of encouragement to unleash his wildest electric dreams. A charging cover of "19th Nervous Breakdown" acknowledges the band's clear debt to the Stones and proves that Jason and the boys know just how to treat a piece of classic rock. By the time the Scorchers delivered their long-come (and long-gone: they broke up soon afterwards) third album, the group was sporting a second guitarist and a new bassist. Rather than successfully integrating the group's stylistic impulses, Thunder and Fire divides them into reheated rockers that short the Scorchers' personality and semi-acoustic country numbers that seem out of place. With Jason's good-ol'-boy voice undercutting Hodges' raucous guitar fury (and vice versa), only "Bible and a Gun" (co-written by Steve Earle), Phil Ochs' propulsive "My Kingdom For a Car" and the bluesy "Away From You" mix up a truly potent blend. © 1991-2002 – Elizabeth Phillip/Ira Robbins – All Rights Reserved


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