Warner Hodges (guitarist)

Warner Edwin Hodges was born on June 4, 1959 in Wurtzburg, Germany. His parents, Edgar and Blanche, were part of a USO touring country outfit, so one assumes they were either stationed there or playing around there at the time when Hodges was born. Warner played drums in the country bands his parents frequented from the time he was twelve. He credits an AC/DC show in 1973, with their original lead singer Bon Scott, as a catalyzing event to entice him to learn the guitar. By age fifteen, Warner was a regular guitarist in many of the bands with whom his parents toured. Warner became interested in punk and hard rock after 1976, and he experimented with different styles of rock guitar while acquiring country styles as well.

The Hodges settled in Nashville in the sixties, and Warner grew up in the Tennessee area. He traveled with a rough crowd back then, and his early Nashville bands such as the Electric Boys and the Purple Giraffes were high-octane rock outfits. Influences on Warner and these bands were Kiss, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Jimi Hendrix, and other hard rockers, as well as more mainstream artists like early Elvis, Little Richard, and classic rockers such as the Rolling Stones and CCR. Warner has described the Electric Boys, which Jeff Johnson played in, as very similar to Green Day.

Warner attended three different Tennessee colleges in the late seventies but did not enjoy any of them. He decided to become a full-time musician in 1980, with his parents' blessings. When Hodges went to the Jason and the Nashville Scorchers show in 1981, he saw a kindred spirit in Jason Ringenberg - someone who was taking the traditions of country and rock music to the hilt. If the Who were "Maximum R&B" in London in 1964, then Ringenberg and Hodges were "Maximum Country" in Nashville in 1982. Once Hodges joined Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, and Perry Baggs and Jeff Johnson were backing them up as the rhythm section, rock had two mesmerizing showmen together on a common mission.

Hodges quickly assumed the role of the band's tour director, quite similar to the role Johnny Ramone fulfilled for the Ramones. Warner was an experienced hand at the business of moving a group from town to town and rocking the night away. In the early eighties, his enthusiasm and drive were a large part of what kept Jason and the Scorchers alive. Of course, Hodges' breathtaking guitar ability set him apart from the start. Hodges had a bag of tricks ready for anyone willing to be thrilled: he would spin in place in the middle of a song, jump around the stage recklessly, spin his guitar over his shoulder, all the while grinning gleefully at the world, as if he were having the time of his life. Hodges' playing was influenced by the theatrical outfits from the seventies mentioned above, as well as by Keith Richards and Angus Young.

Hodges' playing, energy, and irreverent, hilarious wisecracks on stage helped build his legend as one of the most dynamic performers on the rock circuit in the eighties. He spawned imitators who could not match his intensity, lightning-quick finger work and Eddie Van Halen-meets-James Burton licks. On "Fervor" and "Lost and Found," Warner's Fender stamps his star on the Alternative Country Walk of Fame. He melded myriad types of music on those records, then funneled them onto vinyl powerfully and professionally.

Watching Warner on stage in the eighties, one surmised that the excess might follow him and the other band members off. Indeed, alcohol and drugs play an important role in the relative decline of Jason and the Scorchers' sound from the mid- to late-eighties. Warner's guitar grew ever louder on stage, gradually drowning out the alternative country elements in favor of a more mainstream, Cheap Trick-type glossy rock. By this time, Hodges had experience with how to produce records, and his quarrels with producers on "Still Standing" and "Thunder and Fire" hinted that he could be volatile. Hodges was married to soap opera actress Cynthia Tucker in 1987, and lived in New York for the latter half of the eighties. After Jason and the Scorchers broke up in 1990, Warner moved to Los Angeles and worked in the video business. He played with Iggy Pop and Roscoe's Gang, but by 1992 had stopped playing guitar altogether.

Jeff Johnson called Warner repeatedly in early 1993 to convince him that Jason and the Scorchers could tour again. Hodges finally agreed. By this time, Hodges was divorced, and he went on the road with his girlfriend Deborah helping out by selling the T-shirts. Warner had also become sober, and his playing on 1995's "A Blazing Grace" and "Clear Impetuous Morning" in 1996 re-affirmed his status as one of the most powerful guitarists alive. Onstage through 1995 and 1996, Warner showed he still had the magic and was enjoying himself, yet hadn't lost his orneriness. A Hodges stare is still an intimidating weapon.

Warner settled in suburban Nashville in 1999, now married to Deborah. He manages his own construction business. He goes for months without playing guitar, in part because the Scorchers aren't currently active, and also because much music bores him. Hodges prefers to listen to talk radio and to learn about the world through reading.