Honky-Tonk If You Love Rock

Geoffrey Himes; The Washington Post
September 8, 1989

Copyright 1989-2004 The Washington Post

JASON & THE SCORCHERS and Webb Wilder share a common home base (Nashville), a common management company (Praxis) and a common sound (a speeded-up garage-rock take on honky-tonk country). Both have new albums out that tilt their country-rock equation decidedly toward the Stones-y rock sound of a third Praxis act: the Georgia Satellites.
“Thunder and Fire” is the first Jason & the Scorchers album in three years, and it comes closer to the band’s high-voltage live show than any of its first three albums. The revamped group has a new bassist and rhythm guitarist, but even more important are the new songs Jason Ringenberg co-wrote with top Nashville songwriters such as Steve Earle, Don Schlitz, Paul Kennerley and Tim Krekel. These craftsmen lend a solid structure to Ringenberg’s always vivid imagery (including archetypal bibles, guns, angels, graveyards and backroads). This same structure allows the band to open the throttle and rock out without worrying about the songs falling apart.

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