Scorchers prove hotter than ever

A Blazing Grace: Jason and the Scorchers, Mammoth.

Joe Rassenfoss; Rocky Mountain News
February 10, 1995

Copyright 1995 - 2004 Denver Publishing Company

The last time I saw Jason and the Scorchers, they spent the night partying in my Kansas City, Mo., home. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t like the Scorchers were trying to schmooze the local music critic.
Although the band had just released Fervor, an EP that would land them on the best-of lists of papers such as The New York Times, at this point in 1983 they were not ready for prime time. So when my roommate, the promoter of their typically raging hellbilly workout at a local club, mentioned we were having a party with free beer, they made a house call.
The Scorchers ultimately recorded three albums, each of which earned critical praise but only a cult following. By the time the last album arrived in 1989, the band was bickering, and it disintegrated by year’s end. There went my shot at 15 minutes of fame.
So imagine my surprise when I learned the Scorchers had regrouped for A Blazing Grace. My jaw dropped even farther when I heard the 10-song set, a ferocious masterpiece that shows the band has lost none of the fury that made it so engaging. Not surprisingly, the songwriting’s more assured and the playing’s better.
The Scorchers were one of the first to blend country with their rock (they were the Nashville Scorchers originally) and that’s amply displayed on winners such as Cry By Night Operator and 200 Proof Lovin. But don’t pigeonhole the Scorchers. Any band that can take John Denver’s Country Roads and turn it into a raging rocker fueled by guitarist Warner Hodges’ acetylene riffs is beyond categorization. Their supercharged take on Why Baby Why, the George Jones classic, also bears a good listening.
Add (We Need) One More Day to the Weekend to the list of all-time party anthems. On this song and throughout, Hodges’ guitar kills. It’s not all volume, either. On Somewhere Within, he delivers a splendid acoustic solo.
Vocalist Ringenberg, in addition to his writing credits, sounds as good as ever, whether the musical turf’s country or rock. Here’s a promise: If the album sounds this good, it’s a sure thing the group is better live. So I still have a shot at fame when the media converges to ask me what it was like ‘’back when.’’
Just one more thing, guys: Next time, take your shoes off before you go to bed.

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