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Scorchers give country-punk another try
By DAVE FERMAN; Fort Worth Star-Telegram April 22, 1995

Sometimes rock 'n' roll is a good time; sometimes it's a living. Sometimes, every now and then, it's a small miracle.

For Jason Ringenberg, since 1981 the lead singer and harmonica player for Nashville's finest and loudest country-meets-punk combo, Jason & The Scorchers,
a second chance at playing with his band is nothing short of miraculous.

No wonder: In 1993, when the band re-formed and began playing again for the
first time since 1989, it seemed that everybody involved had hit a low point. Two members were battling the bottle, and Ringenberg, who left the family pig farm in Illinois in 1981 to seek country stardom in Nashville, was amid a messy divorce and custody battle.

''Having the band back has completely changed our outlook,'' Ringenberg says.
''We were all having a lot of personal crises and it was easy and fun to do, and
gradually we got our feet back on the ground. It's wonderful to have the Scorchers in our lives. To be able to get up in front of people again and play is a miracle.''

Thoughts of heaven and hell are usually not far from the Scorchers these days. ''A Blazing Grace,'' the band's new CD and its first since 1989's''Thunder & Fire,'' is characterized by Ringenberg as ''very spiritual,'' a trait he says it shares with the band's 1983 album ''Lost & Found.'' From the title to the dark-days-are-coming thunder of ''Hell's Gates'' to the quotation from Psalms 126:6 on the CD sleeve, ''Grace'' is liberally sprinkled with thoughts and intimations of salvation.

At the same time, though, the band's raucous punk-country attack and tales of love gone very, very wrong or very, very right are both solidly in place on numerous songs. Those include ''Shadow of Night'' and ''Cry by Night Operator,'' and covers of George Jones' ''Why Baby Why'' and, of all things, John Denver's ''Take Me Home, Country Roads.''

''The last two records we made before the breakup, 'Still Standing' and Thunder & Fire,' were big American rock records,'' Ringenberg says. ''This one is more down-home and down-to-earth.''

''Grace'' sounds like a continuation of the classic Scorchers sound, pin-your-ears-back volume mixed with cry-in-your-beer country. When the band, which also includes guitarist Warner Hodges, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Perry Baggs, emerged from Nashville in the '80s, critics and a select but always too-small cadre of punks and adventurous country fans went ga-ga over this blend and over the band's sweatfest live shows.

But in those days, before country got a fresh injection of rockabilly and country-inclined rock bands such as the Jayhawks began making serious inroads, it was the same old story in the marketplace that beats the likes of the True Believers, Rank & File and the Beat Farmers: way too rock for country, too country for rock, and not enough sales or airplay in either camp.

''There were always a lot of expectations around the band; we always got good
press and did a lot of touring and got good response,'' Ringenberg says. The band broke up in late '89. But in 1993, bassist Johnson bought a Scorchers greatest-hits package and got the itch again. He recruited the other three.


News Meet The Scorchers Learn Back to Articles > Look
News Meet The Scorchers Learn Back to Articles > Look		Scorchers give country-punk another try By DAVE FERMAN; Fort Worth Star-Telegram April 22, 1995 Copyright 1995 The Hearst Corporation The Times Union (Albany, NY) Sometimes rock 'n' roll is a good time; sometimes it's a living. Sometimes, every now and then, it's a small miracle. For Jason Ringenberg, since 1981 the lead singer and harmonica player for Nashville's finest and loudest country-meets-punk combo, Jason & The Scorchers, a second chance at playing with his band is nothing short of miraculous. No wonder: In 1993, when the band re-formed and began playing again for the first time since 1989, it seemed that everybody involved had hit a low point. Two members were battling the bottle, and Ringenberg, who left the family pig farm in Illinois in 1981 to seek country stardom in Nashville, was amid a messy divorce and custody battle. ''Having the band back has completely changed our outlook,'' Ringenberg says. ''We were all having a lot of personal crises and it was easy and fun to do, and gradually we got our feet back on the ground. It's wonderful to have the Scorchers in our lives. To be able to get up in front of people again and play is a miracle.'' Thoughts of heaven and hell are usually not far from the Scorchers these days. ''A Blazing Grace,'' the band's new CD and its first since 1989's''Thunder & Fire,'' is characterized by Ringenberg as ''very spiritual,'' a trait he says it shares with the band's 1983 album ''Lost & Found.'' From the title to the dark-days-are-coming thunder of ''Hell's Gates'' to the quotation from Psalms 126:6 on the CD sleeve, ''Grace'' is liberally sprinkled with thoughts and intimations of salvation. At the same time, though, the band's raucous punk-country attack and tales of love gone very, very wrong or very, very right are both solidly in place on numerous songs. Those include ''Shadow of Night'' and ''Cry by Night Operator,'' and covers of George Jones' ''Why Baby Why'' and, of all things, John Denver's ''Take Me Home, Country Roads.'' ''The last two records we made before the breakup, 'Still Standing' and Thunder & Fire,' were big American rock records,'' Ringenberg says. ''This one is more down-home and down-to-earth.'' ''Grace'' sounds like a continuation of the classic Scorchers sound, pin-your-ears-back volume mixed with cry-in-your-beer country. When the band, which also includes guitarist Warner Hodges, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Perry Baggs, emerged from Nashville in the '80s, critics and a select but always too-small cadre of punks and adventurous country fans went ga-ga over this blend and over the band's sweatfest live shows. But in those days, before country got a fresh injection of rockabilly and country-inclined rock bands such as the Jayhawks began making serious inroads, it was the same old story in the marketplace that beats the likes of the True Believers, Rank & File and the Beat Farmers: way too rock for country, too country for rock, and not enough sales or airplay in either camp. ''There were always a lot of expectations around the band; we always got good press and did a lot of touring and got good response,'' Ringenberg says. The band broke up in late '89. But in 1993, bassist Johnson bought a Scorchers greatest-hits package and got the itch again. He recruited the other three. © 1995-2001 Fort Worth Star-Telegram — All Rights Reserved

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