Interview With Jason Ringenberg, Bristol, Tennessee, May 1997
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Interviewers: Rex Gambill, Valdosta Daily Times (RG)
James Benkard, http://jasonandthescorchers.com (JB)
Also there is Katerina Sequensova from Prague, Czech Republic. (KS)

Copyright 1997-2001 Scorchers Official Home Page

RG: I guess I'll start with the question I wanted to ask first - when it comes to musicians who have successfully blended the sounds and styles of music, 'Music City' country and straight-ahead rock, I think of you guys, and I think of Steve Earle. I also see some similarities in your career paths. Can you clarify for me your relationship with Steve?
Jason: Steve and I are old, old friends. And we were friends before he became who he is, in terms of a modern, you know, musical force. When I first met Steve, he was a songwriter in Nashville. And we'd have - we used to joke, because we'd have a monthly talk. Where we'd get on the phone like, real late at night, and we would talk for, literally three or four hours sometimes.
RG: Cool.
Jason: And just talk about the state of music; and music in general, and where things were headed. And this was, like, '81, '82, '83, somewhere in that period.
RG: When you guys were just getting started.
Jason: Yeah. We were a little bit ahead of him at that point.
RG: Right.
Jason: You know, we had records out, and stuff. And he was just kind of getting off the ground. And we stayed in touch over the years. He became - you know, then he became "Guitar Town" Steve Earle and -
RG: Right.
Jason: - his whole life changed. In the late - in the mid-eighties, I kind of lost track of him; in the late eighties, he moved out to Fairview. And I was living in Kingston Springs, just - very, you know neighboring cities, both had little farms out there. And so we started hanging out more. His wife and my wife, at the time, were friends. So we actually spent a lot of time together. Wrote songs together, and stuff.
RG: Just before "Thunder and Fire"?
Jason: Yeah. Right.
RG: And then he kind of...drifted out.
Jason: Right, and I lost track with him again And then lately, though, I've been seeing him more, and kind of hanging out with him some.
RG: How is he now? Is it [the] same old Steve, or...
Jason: Oh, yeah. He's just a little more together, in terms of - you know, he's got his vices under control. But he's still just as crazy as ever. I mean, talking to him is - you know, you never know what he's going to say.
RG: Well, I've always wondered what extent you guys - what kind of relationship you guys had.
Jason: I would say we're very good friends.
RG: Good, good.
Jason: Yeah.
RG: What's next for Jason and the Scorchers, and how do the changes at Mammoth affect the band's plans? Do you know?
Jason: Yeah, I think it's changed some. I mean, it's kind of put the band in a little bit of a holding pattern for a while. They plan to re-release the record, and, you know, get new distribution, and stuff. And kind of do a different second plan; second wave, I should say. So we're kind of; you know, kind of holding tight now. It's given us time to get Kenny broke in on bass. It's given us time to kind of collect ourselves, 'cause it was it was a pretty intense fall, last year.
RG: How's - how do you feel about Kenny? How's he mixing in?
Jason: I think that it's getting better slowly and surely. The first few shows, I wasn't so sure. Nashville was kind of 'iffy'. But tonight, he was very 'on it', and I think that he's finally figured out what the band needs; what kind of band it is. And I think he's going to be - he's going to be what we want. 'Cause he has a tremendous, tremendous potential. The guy's an amazing musician. He's also very exciting, and he's just a great bass player.
RG: Right. Very aggressive.
Jason: Yes, very aggressive on stage, which takes a lot of pressure off me. I can kind of work off him a little more, the way I do with Warner. It's just a little more; makes it easier on me, to create energy on stage. I'm very excited now; even more so than I was before.
RG: Great. Are there any plans to record this year; even though you're in a "holding pattern?" Maybe a live record?
Jason: It's possible.
RG: Something for the fans?
Jason: Yeah, we have - we've been just keeping the band together and you know, dealing with the sort of; sort of complications of what happened with the first wave of Clear Impetuous Morning; that we haven't really thought about the new record yet much. But I'm starting - tonight I was watching ZZ Top thinking, "I think I'd better go home and start writing some songs".
RG: I was going to ask you - have you been writing since Clear Impetuous?
Jason: No, not really. Very little.
RG: Do you do much writing on the road, or is that kind of a 'home' thing that you do?
Jason: It depends on if we're getting ready to record. I kind of write in spurts. I tend to write albums. Which may explain: the one thing you really can't criticize the band about, is the albums do have a cohesiveness in the writing.
RG: Sure.
Jason: And that's because I write 'em all at once, you know.
RG: Right.
Jason: I just, kind of laze -
RG: Sit down, and do it.
Jason: - I'm very lazy, and then all of a sudden, I write a record.
RG: (Laughs.) Great. Your band was kind of an up- and is, kind of an updating of older musical styles. What new artists, if any, do you find interesting? Who catches your ear?
Jason: Umm...
RG: I guess Steve doesn't count, 'cause you guys came up together.
Jason: Yeah, right, right. (Pause.) It's hard to say; I mean, there's so much different things that catch me - sometimes things that wouldn't even think.
JB: You said that band Los Straitjackets - Los Straitjackets in Nashville. They were really funny.
Jason: Yeah, they're good, Los Straitjackets.
JB:How long have they been around, do you know?
Jason: Couple of years. Yeah. .I always hate to answer that question, 'cause then I think later of all these bands I'm listening to.
RG: Yeah. Say "Aw, geez, I wish I mentioned them," or something.
Jason: Right, right.
RG: All right. Well, it's been sixteen years, give or take, since you guys first got together. Thinking back on that time, did you think it would turn out this way? Did you think you'd be here? What did you think?
Jason: Geez. I don't think I knew enough about the music world to - to really put it in concrete terms; what - what would happen. I probably thought we'd...be more financially successful, I think.
RG: Sure.
Jason: I think that - I don't think I realized what a financial struggle it is to be a musician. And that; that's one thing that I have been probably disappointed consistently about, over the years. 'Cause it's very difficult to, to maintain an attitude when you have trouble paying your rent. At the same point in time, I don't think I really thought that we'd have eight albums in sixteen years.
RG: Sure.
Jason: And all these accolades, and, you know, a fan base all over the world. That's, that's very, you know, very amazing to me to this - and I'm seeing it more as I get older now. You know, I start to thinking; I'm an eight-album artist now.
RG: Right.
Jason: Eight albums. You know -
RG: You've got a body of work.
Jason: - I'm enormously impressed with that and enormously proud of that. And, the fact that our eighth record - well, my eighth record, the band's seventh, my eighth - is one of our best, is: that's just, you know...I'm, I'm extraordinarily proud of that.
RG: You've spoken about how hard it was in the year after the breakup, and that you couldn't imagine life without the band now. Do you still feel that way, and how do other members of the band feel about that'? Do you know?
Jason: Well, I think that we've: we've come to a certain peace with it. I predicted before Clear Impetuous Morning that - and this is probably being too; too open, but I'll say it anyway. I predicted before Clear Impetuous Morning that without some serious, substantial success the band would break up.
RG: Sure.
Jason: I felt like the, the touring pressures, the financial pressures would break it apart if it didn't. Now, I wasn't exactly accurate, because the band has continued. But we have lost the original format of the band. We lost Jeff and his wife Joanna which is, which is an immense tragedy. But we are still together now, and I think that the band with the format it has now, has the capabilities now of making records as long as we're healthy -
RO: Sure.
Jason: - and capable of doing it. 'Cause I think that, it's a, you know, it's a tighter, more streamlined outfit now. You know, it's based in one city. It's, um; creatively, there's not quite the conflicts that there were. And...I just think - I can see us now, like: okay, even if this thing just stays where it is, which is okay, you know.
RG: Sure.
Jason: I can still see us five years from now making - "Hey let's make record. I got a bunch of songs, let's make a record." Or, "Hey let's go out and tour." Or even ten years from now. Or maybe even fifteen years. I can see us -
RG: As long as you can do it -
Jason: Yeah.
RG: - on your terms.
Jason: Yeah, right. I think that as long as, you know someone will put out our records, and a few people come out to our shows.
RG: Sure. As long as it's fun.
Jason: Yeah. Yeah, I can really see that now. I don't think it's going to take major success to keep the Scorchers making music.
RG: What's the next single?
Jason: I think that; I mean, I think success now is a different - we define it much differently. You know just being able to out be out there making music, and makin' our art, you know.
RG: Okay. What's the next single? Is there going to be another single off of Clear Impetuous?
Jason: Yeah, that's part of the next plan. They're debating whether it to be "Self-Sabotage" or "Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man". That's the two, you know, two schools of thought.
RG: Okay. And are they going to wait for distribution to pick back up?
Jason: Yes.
RG: Yeah, that - okay. That makes sense.
Jason: Yeah.
RG: We were talking in the car about - he'd heard that you guys had done some; an Alex Chilton song. What song is that? Just curious.
Jason: At Christmastime, I always sing "Jesus Christ."
RG: Okay.
Jason: Yeah -
RG: Okay.
Jason: But I usually just do it with me on acoustic.
RG: I can see that.
Jason: Sometimes it works great, and sometimes - it, just; everybody's sitting there talking. (All laugh.) And, you know, whatever -
RG: They don't know the song, and...
Jason: Yeah. I remember, like: we - I did it this last Christmas in St. Louis. Were you at that show, James? The St. Louis show?
JB: St. Louis, no. I, I -
Jason: Were you at the Atlanta show?
JB: No. I wasn't at either of those. I read something on the Internet about you wearing a Santa hat, and riding Warner off of the stage...
Jason: Yeah. In St. Louis, it was great. It was like a big Christmas celebration.
JB: (Laughs.) That's; yeah. That's the one I read.
Jason: And I sang that song, and the room just got deathly quiet. It was so beautiful; and everyone was like [with his mouth open] "ahhh!" You know, everyone was so; was just, really into the spirit of it. Then in Atlanta, you know, two people over here were fightin' (Laughs; all laugh.) you know, and somebody over there was orderin' a beer and everybody was talking, and my guitar didn't work, and I forgot the words, and it was - I completely butchered it.
RG: Okay. What was the worst gig you ever had, and why'?
Jason: Hmm.
RG: Do you remember? Put it out of your mind?
Jason: Yeah, I usually exorcise them from my mind.
RG: Sure.
Jason: You know -
RG: What was the best?
Jason: The best one - hmm. Probably was London '85 at the Marquee Club. It was at the height of our popularity in England. And it was packed; sold out. Bill Wyman was there, -
RG: Wow.
Jason: - and Elvis Costello, and ... and we did a show that, you know. I remember one of the critics saying: "this was one of the top five gigs of all time." Not "my favorite," he said, "this isn't my favorite gig. I said this is one of the top five gigs ever." (Laughs, all laugh.) I don't think it was quite that intense, but -
RG: Well, people have said good things about that; the Nashville show too. I mean, just -
Jason: The Cat's [Records, 1982 and '85] show would probably [be] right up there in the top five.
RG: Yeah.
Jason: You know. But there's some crazy, out of the way places. Uh...the, uh. . .what's the city in New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand.
RG: Auckland.
Jason: In '85. Charlotte in '87. We played like eight encores. (All gasp.) You know -
RG: God! Repeating songs?
Jason: I was, I was, you know, swingin' from the rafters. And lassoin' people with my mike cord, and we were doing songs that, you know, we never did.
RG: How did the crowd take you in Auckland?
Jason: You know; it was, it was incredible. We only played there once. Just walked into this place, and all these - there were all these fans that knew everything about us. (Laughs, all laugh.) I was like, "how did this happen?" That's as far as you can get and still speak English you know, in the world. You know...
RG: I was going to ask this question of Warner, and I'll pose it to you and see if you can answer it. He's said; he has said before in a previous interview with James that Clear Impetuous Morning was the first time, in a long time that made him feel that Jason and the Scorchers could do something relevant again.
Jason: Yeah.
RG: And "push the envelope," so to speak. And I was going to ask him, does he still feel that way? And I'll ask you, do you feel that way? Do you agree with Warner? And - you, you've; you did a lot of different things on that record from I, from what I think you did in the past, and -
Jason: Thank you.
RG: - what, maybe, is next for you guys, in terms of musical experimentation, and pushing the bounds of what you are, musically?
Jason: Right. Um...I would like to, you know, I mean, if you want to know the honest truth -
RG: Sure.
Jason: You know, I probably, I'm probably going to really regret saying this later, but I'd like to write a legitimate hit song.
RG: Sure.
Jason: You know, I'd love to do that. 'Cause I've never done that before you know. Never even wrote anything close. I mean, the closest thing we have to a hit is "White Lies," and I didn't write it. You know...So I'd like to do that, you know. And I'm kind of, like, thinkin', "how could you keep your integrity of the, the sort of spirit of the band intact, and do that?" 'Cause I think, you know -
RG: Well, REM pulled it off several years into their career.
Jason: Yeah, yeah.
RG: You know, it took them a long time.
Jason: That'd be fun. A great live album would be a fun thing to do, too.
RG: Oh, yeah.
Jason: You know, I think - that's probably what's next, really, is a live album. But - or one more studio record past this.
RG: Sure.
Jason: But we'll see. It depends on how the writing goes. You know, I'm; I really (going to) think I'm going to go home and start writing again. Maybe, and if - if we get a bunch of great songs, we may go into the studio this year. If not, [we] may do a live record.
RG: Sure. Or even a video.
Jason: Or even -
RG: I think a video would be really -
Jason: A live video would be even more fun, I think.
RG: I think so.
Jason: 'Cause the visual - I - when you hear tapes of the Scorchers, sometimes it sounds okay, and sometimes it's like, "Boy, I thought that was better than that!" (Laughs, all laugh.) you know. But, when you picture it live, you know, when you picture the visual -
RG: Yeah. When everybody's doing their thing.
Jason: Yeah. It just makes so much more sense. So maybe, yeah, maybe you're right, Rex.
RG: Did you have some questions for Jason? I think I've tapped mine out.
JB: Yeah. Okay.
Jason: That's wonderful. You're going to ask Kenny some questions, too?
RG: Yeah. If I can.
Jason: That's great. Yeah, make sure he's there. You just have to call him. I don't know if they're expecting - that. So just make sure to tell him and he'll; he'll come over.
RG: Great, great.
Jason: He'd love to do that.
JB: Jason, at the Nashville show on Thursday. you referred to the Scorchers' early days when talking to the crowd. You then said. "Long live the memory of Cantrell's." Where is Cantrell's, and which show were you referring to? Is this the one Rick Hull dramatizes in the liner notes to Reckless Country Soul? Which is December 31st, 1981, in Murfreesboro?
Jason: No, that's a different room. Cantrell's was a punk rock bar. An original music bar in Nashville, when there was no other. It was like, the early eighties, late seventies.
RG: Where is it located?
Jason: Ah...Broadway.
JB: And is this an '82 show?
Jason: No, I was just -
JB: Or just any show -
Jason: - the spirit of it. I was talking the spirit of play there. Like, REM used to play there, and X, and the Scorchers all the time. And we did shows there that were just wild, extreme, you know...[Thinking back.] Geez.
JB: Um, one of the -
Jason: And there was just, you know...just, beer all over the floor, and -geez. One night, I - I shouldn't say. (Chuckles. all laugh) Here we go - one night I brought a gun in, and I shot in the air and stuff at the end of the show! (Laughs.)
JB: I remember in New York, you, you took, during "Both Sides of the Line," this last tour, when you were at Tramps, in the, during "Both Sides of the Line," you took your mike stand, and you pounded the ceiling with it and chipped the paint. That was great. I'll never forget that. Ah - going to the other extreme, one of your most beautiful acoustic songs, "Somewhere Within," is "dedicated to the memory of Avis Johnson."
Jason: Yeah.
JB: Who is Avis Johnson?
Jason: Jeff's mom. Who passed on that year. She was a good friend of mine. She was more than just Jeff's mom: she was, you know she was a friend. She was a good woman.
JB: (Shuffling.) Okay, we've already asked that.. Jason, certain songs of yours seem to be about women and relationships, but they also could be about the band, and your feelings about your career in general. I'm speaking here of songs such as "Ocean of Doubt," "No Turning Back" and, more recently, "Where Bridges Never Burn" and "I'm Sticking With You." Is this an accurate reading of these songs? And, does that format allow you to speak about both things, or...
Jason: Yeah, oh, absolutely.
JB: - or anything, or...?
Jason: It's a great method of therapy. you know, [to] be able to write songs
like that. It's; I've, it's probably kept me out of therapy, you know! (Laughs.) It's a lot cheaper; that's for sure.
But, yeah, you're probably accurate in everything you said; just said.
JB: Many of the Scorchers' original songs, and quite of the few covers you have done, address male-female relations with a disarming sense of humor. Does it help you, or one, to laugh, or try to laugh, about the girl who got away, or does it just make great rock n' roll, or both?
Jason: (Chuckles.) Well, I mean, I think it's the fundamental...it's the fundamental common bond that all humanity has, you know. Is the almost, you know - well, 99.9 percent of people out there want to - have, you know, a close relationship with somebody else. And that, you know, causes, you know, all kinds of crazy situations and problems. And good things, and...
JB: One line from "Golden Ball and Chain" seems to sum up the status
-conscious eighties: "Get on the phone to find out who you are."
Jason: (Chuckles.) Who you are.
JB: Have things changed in the nineties? Do we still have to "get on the phone" to find out who we are, or do we have "therapy group(s) to belong to" as you say in "Walking a Vanishing Line?"
Jason: (Laughs, all laugh.) Yeah, I think it's almost - you know sometimes I think that the nineties...The eighties was, you know, of course, a decade of excess and, and corporate involvement in just about every aspect of life! [Where]as now, everybody is independent. You know - so, like, everybody's the same because they're all independent! (Laughs.) It's kind of -
JB: Now everybody's independent?
Jason: Yes -
JB: In the nineties?
Jason: It's just like; they're all, you know ... it's kind of a funny thing, you know, everybody now wears nose rings, and everybody wears, you know -
RG: Cowboy hats.
Jason: Tattoos. And, you know...it's kind of funny.
JB: I was wonder -
Jason: Some old symbols of rebellion are now just commonplace.
JB: Yeah.
Jason: It's almost more rebellious not to do that stuff.
JB: I wanted to ask you about... "Bible and a Gun." And if you could, maybe give us some insight into the song. There's obviously a lot of imagery in that song. And I was wondering how you view that song now, you know, eight years later, and...I have some thoughts about it, but I'd rather hear you talk about it.
Jason: Right. Um...well, that's what came out of just what Rex was talking about; the time that me and Steve were probably the closest. And that, um... (Long pause.) I remember Steve just, like, pacin' back and forth when I was in his apartment - up in his apartment there on West End Street. And he, was just frantically pacing back and forth. And he'd spit out some lines! You know; I mean, I brought him the chorus, and then he pretty much took it from there. He did the verses pretty much himself.
The song; you know, I think it stands up very well over time. And it also stands up in any band I play in. You know, I play it sometimes, jam with people. When I did my solo project, I played it live with that band, and it sounded just as good as it did with the Scorchers. It sounded good with that five-piece band; it sounds good with the four piece band. It sounds good with Kenny on bass, it sounds good with Jeff on bass. It just always sounds good. It's a very musical song.
Hotel guest: (Entering lobby.) Anywhere to get ice around here?
Jason: Um, I'm not sure. There's a guy over there, he'll probably help you out.
JB: Jason, you're known as a Civil War buff. from references to that conflict in songs like "Jeremy's Glory". to your invoking Stonewall Jackson just before certain shows are about to start. At times, it must seem as though maintaining and establishing a band is a war in itself. In your opinion, what things are worth fighting for?
Hotel guest: (To Jason, while leaving the lobby without ice) Hey man, you sounded good up there.
Jason: Thank you, sir. [Referring to the compliment] That's certainly worth it; you know. Whew...what things are worth fighting for? Boy, James you ask the questions that really make you think ... (Others chuckle.)
JB: (Chuckling.) Sorry about that.
Jason: No, no, that's good; that's good. You have - it's always a case-by-case basis, you know. I mean, I think you can almost become a slave to integrity. You know, I think a lot of artists do that. They become "artists." you know. 'artistes.' You know, I mean, it's, it's commerce at the very end of the day, you know. That's the way it is, or you don't have record deals; if you can't sell records, so. You have to be able to do that, but you have to make a balance, you know. You also can be too self-indulgent. I always have to fight that. You know, like; how much do you really - how much do really; do people really want to know, you know? About you: and you have to make some sort of common bond; find common ground. I don't think I'm answering your question, am I? (Laughs, all laugh.) I'm just kind of, like, wandering all over here.
JB: No, that's; that's fine. Okay, um...
Jason: But things worth fighting for; I mean, I know one thing . You know, Jason and the Scorchers, when we go on that damned stage, we mean business every time. It may not always be good: I'm not saying that, but every time. If we're not good, we're really disappointed about it. We fight hard, hard for that. And that's mostly fighting yourself; that's an internal battle. Okay, you've just played, you know, sixty shows. You know, and you're tired, and you're sick, and there's only forty people here, and this sounds like hell. But you've still got to go up there and really try to fight to do a great show. Because this is a great live band. You know. it is one of the greatest live bands in history. You know, that's the one claim that we can make -
JB: Oh, I think there are quite a few others. (Chuckles.)
Jason: - you know, and not; not be bragging about it you know. We have other flaws in other areas. But, in terms of live; we're a great live band. And we have to constantly fight to keep that.
RG: Can I ask a question here -
JB: Sure.
RG: - that just came to me. The last album, how much of that was live in the studio?
Jason: Ah -
RG: 'Cause a lot of it sounded really spontaneous on the record.
Jason: Yeah. There's a lot of; there's a lot of live stuff in there. We were limited a little bit by the size of the studio.
RG: Sure.
Jason: We wanted to do more live than we did, actually. But it was such a small little studio, we couldn't fit it all...
RG: And the, this recording schedule probably pushed you back a little bit, too.
Jason: Yeah, yeah. That's true. That's true.
RG: Okay.
Jason: But, like, like, "Jeremy's Glory" is completely live.
Jason: Yeah, straight. "Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man," a lot of that's live.
RG: Great.
Jason: Yeah.
JB: In an interview - this is something Warner said in an interview last year. He said that the recording process with the - about the recording; recording process with the Scorchers that "nine times out of ten, the song either clicks immediately, or we work it to death. There's no middle ground." Can you give us an example from each category - a song that clicked immediately, and one you worked to death, from Clear Impetuous Morning?
Jason: From Clear Impetuous Morning...
JB: Or just any; any song.
Jason: I remember "[If] Money Talks" took, like, thirty takes (All chuckle.) And we never got it. 'Cause that was a hit song. I believe to this you know. I - at the time, there was a lot of folks from the demos were saying "Hey, this is a hit song. 'White Lies,' 'Money Talks' - those are your two hits." And "Shop It Around." And that was a hit. But we didn't get it. We made a great rock and roll song out of it, but it really was a smash hit. Waitin' to happen. The demo to this day, is better than the original. Better than the album version of it.
JB: And a song that "clicked immediately?"
(In the background, someone on the television says "another scorcher!")
Jason: "Jeremy's Glory," off of the new one. Yeah, that was just immediate. Just - bam! Done.
JB: I wanted to ask you - you've gone on record as being a big Gram Parsons fan. Parsons' and Roger McGuinn's song "Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man" is one of the best songs on the new album. In your opinion, what do you think it was about Parsons which made him so special? You can talk about him being special to you, to country-rock, the music world - anything about him that is meaningful to you.
Jason: Well, he was an absolute pioneer. There's no question that there was no one like him, before him. And he also had, you know, of course he was a brilliant creatively. He had the chops, you know. He had the mental and the creative chops to do what he envisioned. You know he also had a lot of charisma. But mostly, man, he was just a tremendous pioneer - what foresight, you know. Tremendous foresight. I mean, at that time, it was - I mean, I remember how radical it was for the Scorchers to come out and do a George Jones song in the early eighties.
RG: Yeah.
Jason: You know, I mean, it was really radical. For him to do that in the late sixties and the early seventies - wow! you know. That was so square, to be into George Jones, you know, into Buck Owens. That was so square!
RG: And Dylan did it too, but -
Jason: And Dylan did it too...
RG: He just did it, and got out of it.
Jason: Yeah, -
RG: Yeah.
Jason: - yeah. And Dylan wasn't quite associated with that word "country-rock" the way Parsons; he created it. I mean, he absolutely created it.
RG: Dylan did pure country.
Jason: Yeah.
JB: Jason -
Jason: [To Rex.] Good point.
JB: Jason, do you view yourself today as a Southerner who happened to come from the north, (All start chuckling.) a Northerner who has settled in the South, or some mixture of these two?
Jason: I think it becomes a mixture of the two after a while, you know. I mean, I really...I have a real understanding of the South and a real sort of...Most folks think I'm Southern, you know, that don't know the history of it. But I think, also, because I came from, like, a real rural upbringing. You know, from a farm, and...and I have this tremendous knowledge of the South, and the Civil War, and stuff. I think I have a certain credibility with Southerners. You know -
RG: It comes through in your songs, too.
Jason: Yeah.
RG: That's what you're writin' about, a lot of times.
Jason: Yeah. It's always; you know - I mean. Robbie Robertson was another one.
RG: Right.
Jason: He was a Canadian.
RG: He's Canadian.
Jason: And, I mean, he wrote great songs about the South
RG: Sure.
Jason: So it is possible. You don't have to be Southern. It would help, of course, but, you know...
JB: I'm done.
Jason: All right.
KS: Can I have a question?
Jason: Yes, ma'am?
RG: Of course.
KS: Why did you get rid of that great hairdo?
Jason: Um - my girlfriend would not have sex with me, if you want to know the truth! (All laugh.) She would just look at me, like...(imitates look) It was terrible! It was like, finally, "okay, I'm going to get rid of it." Gee, but, you know...
JB: Oh, there's one other thing. I'm glad I remembered this. Could you please let us in on record with the legend of "The Cowboy Guitar Man?" (All start to chuckle.)
Jason: The Cowboy Guitar Man. Started in Philadelphia in the "Blazing Grace" tour. And it's really a simple start, as all legends are, you know - a very unimposing start to this enormous legend that's spread all over the world.
But, we were just on stage playing in this weird bar in Philadelphia, and this little, sort of, redneck fat girl comes up, you know, kind of missing some teeth and stuff, and goes, "We Love You, Cowboy Guitar Man!" (All laugh.) And I just fell on the floor. And ever since then, you know, we had this real humorous roadie named Rod Gibson. Who's, you know, he actually still roadies for bands and stuff. And he's just this great personality, and, you know everywhere we'd go then, he'd like sneak off in the audience, and change his voice, "We love you, Cowboy Guitar Man!" And it - you know, all over the world.
JB: 'Cause you said that in Philadelphia, and it was really funny. Back [in] October.
Jason: Yeah. I tried to get reprieves in Philadelphia, and it didn't work, you know. (All laugh.) Didn't work. No one said it, and it was kind of -
JB: They did! They did, I remember!
RG: It was him, is what it was.
Jason: Well, like, it even showed up in Europe once or twice, you know
JB: Really? 'Cause, you know, I've never read it in any interview.
Jason: The Cowboy Guitar Man.
JB: That's right.
Jason: Well.
JB: Thank you.
Jason: Yeah, it's been my pleasure.
JB: Appreciate it.
Jason: Thank you, Rex.
RG: Thanks for staying up for us. I appreciate it.

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