Scorchers
News - November 2001
Here is the news for which you all have been waiting.
Four Scorchers shows have been announced. this will
be all of their "birthday" shows. So make them if you can.
JASON AND THE SCORCHERS
Friday, December 14, 2001
Birmingham, Alabama The Nick
2514 10th Avenue South (205) 322-7550
http://www.thenickrocks.com/interactive.asp
Saturday, December 15, 2001
Atlanta, Georgia Smith's Olde Bar
1580 Piedmont Ave NE (404) 875-1522
http://www.smithsoldebar.com/
Saturday, December 29, 2001
Memphis, Tennessee Hi-Tone Cafe
1913 Poplar Avenue (901) 278-8663
http://www.hi-tonecafe.com/
Monday, December 31, 2001
Nashville, Tennessee Exit/In Club
2208 Elliston Place (615) 321-4400
http://www.exit-in.com/
Ticket Information:
Tickets for the Birmingham
and Atlanta shows are now available through Etix. You can purchase them
by following the link below, then finding the right venue once you click
on the "Music" icon.
http://www1.etix.com/ticket/online/index.html
Ticketmaster will be selling
tickets for the New Year's Eve show at the Exit/In.
NOTE: The Exit/In show is December 31, not December
30. Tickets for this show went on sale on Ticketmaster November 17, but
Ticketmaster mistakenly listed the show as December 30th. Even if you
did buy a ticket that says December 30th on it, don't go to the Exit/In
expecting to see the Scorchers on that day. The show is New Year's Eve!
You can buy tickets to the Nashville, December 31 show only by following
this link:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/
Regarding the Memphis show,
the Hi-Tone won't be selling tickets online. They will start taking phone
orders for tickets around December 19th. Reportedly, the capacity of the
Hi-Tone is 200. I don't know what the demand will be like in Memphis,
but given those facts, that show may be sold out.
Scorchers rarities CD to be released in December!
Jason and the Scorchers will release Wildfires and Misfires, a compilation of unreleased and hard-to-find material, in December. It will be available at the December shows, through www.jasonringenberg.com, and through Jason's mail-order business with Courageous Chicken. Jason is releasing Wildfires through Courageous Chicken, which is his own label. Jason also says that this CD will be available internationally, although I am unaware of the details of this distribution arrangement. My guess is that it will probably be 2002 before one can buy Wildfires in stores or through online vendors such as CD Now.
If you want to buy a copy of Wildfires and Misfires, and don't want to wait until 2002, the quickest way (besides coming to one of the shows) is to go to www.jasonringenberg.com and use their ordering system. Mike Hodge, who runs that site, says they will be ready to accept credit card orders by the time Wildfires is available.
Another way to buy Wildfires, or either of the other two Courageous Chicken releases (Jason's 2000 solo record A Pocketful of Soul and Jason and the Scorchers' 1985 concert Rock On Germany), is to send a check or money order to: Courageous Chicken Records/Jason Ringenberg, P.O. Box 1982, Dickson, Tennessee, 37055, USA. This mail order information is on www.jasonringenberg.com as well.
Here is the track listing for Wildfires and Misfires. Click below to see the liner notes, which includes Jason talking about each track.
1. Absolutely Sweet Marie (demo) (1983)
2. Shop It Around (demo) (1983)
3. Lost Highway (live) (1984)
4. Long Black Veil (1984)
5. Tear It Up (with Link Wray) (live) (1985)
6. If Money Talks (demo) (1984)
7. Polk Salad Annie (live) (1985)
8. Don't Stop Doin' (demo) (1985)
9. Comin' 'Round (demo) (1985)
10. Fallen Angel (demo) (1988)
11. Too Much Too Young (demo) (1988)
12. Break Open the Sky (demo) (1988)
13. The Slow Train Never Ends (with Blanche Hodges) (demo) (1988)
14. Window Town (import single) (1989)
15. Buried Me Like a Bone (import CD single) (1995)
16. Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town (with Rick Richards) (import CD
single) (1995)
17. Cappuccino Rosie (live) (1997)
18. Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel (live) (1995)
19. Kings of the Weekend (advertisement) (1999)
20. Gospel Plow (demo) (1996)
Wildfires and Misfires: Liner notes
Howdy friends! So here is (arguably) some of the best of our of rarities
and previously unreleased outtakes. For the most part we sequenced the
CD chronologically and tried to include tracks from every phase of our
20 year career. When I listen to it my whole Scorcher life passes before
my eyes! It definitely tells our story from an angle never before explored.
We start with the demo of Absolutely Sweet Marie from the summer of 1983. The reason there are no pre-1983 tracks is that all of the good rarities from that period were used on the Reckless Country Soul reissue. We hope you enjoy this little jaunt down the Lost Highway.
Jason Ringenberg
October 28, 2001
Owner of Courageous Chicken Records and Old Scorcher
1. Absolutely Sweet Marie (Bob
Dylan) ASCAP
Produced by Warner E. Hodges and Jeff Johnson
Recorded the summer of 1983 in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
This is the track that got us "The Deal" with EMI America. Praxis
had released the first version of Fervor and we decided a good demo of
new material would be needed capitalize on the buzz Fervor was generating.
This version is my personal favorite of our many recordings of that song.
In fact, EMI initially suggested it be remixed and put out as is! The
bucket still holds water.
2. Shop It Around (Jason Ringenberg)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges and Jeff Johnson.
Also from the same demo as Absolutely Sweet Marie.
3. Lost Highway (Leon Payne) BMI
Recorded live March 1984 at New York's Irving Plaza club for the King Biscuit Flower Hour. EMI had just released the expanded Fervor, and we were seeing a whole new world.
4. Long Black Veil (Marijohn Wilkin-Danny
Dill)
Produced by Terry Manning.
Recorded during the Lost and Found sessions in the summer of 1984. There was some talk to include it on the record.
5. Tear It Up (Johnny Burnette)
Recorded live at Roskilde Festival July 1985.
Sound engineer Frank Jimenez.
With the release of Lost and Found, we toured in earnest. At Roskilde Festival (Denmark) Link Wray showed up at our show. We had played with the man at a remote festival in Finland earlier that week. He was honored and surprised when we walked on stage to his version of Dixie Doodle. All of us were over the top into his legend and presence. When we brought him out and introduced him at Roskilde the 100,000 or so folks there went crazy. He is a bonafide legend in Denmark and still lives there. The guitar interplay between him and Warner was completely spontaneous and unrehearsed. It still is some of the coolest guitar picking I have ever heard.
6. If Money Talks (Baggs-Napier) BMI
For those of you who don't know it, Perry Baggs is a fine country singer and this track proves it. He sang this demo in 1984 with Nashville studio musicians. The hope was that the demo would interest someone in the Nashville machine to record the song. We're still hoping...
7. Polk Salad Annie (Tony Joe White)
Recorded live in Kansas City April 26, 1985 for Westwood One. That show is commonly called "Burn Down The Cowtown" by Scorcher bootleg collectors. Warner had been singing Polk Salad Annie all that year. It always brought the house down and gave me a chance to hang out and listen to the thunder.
8. Don't Stop Doin' (Baggs-Ringenberg)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded by Richie Owens (now Dolly Parton's producer) in the autumn of 1985 for the Still Standing demo sessions.
9. Comin' 'Round (Jason Ringenberg) BMI
This was another demo from the Still Standing demos. I later rewrote the lyrics to make them more "catchy and memorable". It became When It All Comes Crashin' Down. We all make mistakes.
10. Fallen Angel
(Timothy Prudhomme) BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded by Rob Earle at The Sound Vortex in the summer of 1988.
This was one of the few outside songs we considered for Thunder and Fire. Unfortunately during that time a truckload of angel type songs came out so we decided not to use it. I love Perry, Andy York, and Warner's' harmonies on this.
11. Too Much Too Young (Ringenberg-Hodges-York)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded the spring of 1988 at Emerald Studios (Nashville) by Gary Laney.
After Jeff left the band we signed with A&M and went into an extended demo phase. The powers that be wanted lots of material to pick from and felt we needed to cut loads of demos. Quite a few good songs were lost to the process. This and the next two tracks are from "The Demo Period".
12. Break Open the Sky (Ringenberg-Hodges-York-Fox)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded the spring of 1998 at Emerald Studios by Gary Laney.
Warner was living in NYC at the time, as was Andy York and bassist Ken Fox. They wrote the music and I did the lyrics. It all happened via phone. This one would have worked great on Thunder and Fire.
13. The Slow Train Never Ends (Ringenberg-Gingrich)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded the spring if 1988 at Emerald Studios by Gary Laney.
Guest Vocalist Blanche Hodges.
I co-wrote this with an old neighbor from Sheffield Illinois in 1985. It is a crime that we didn't get to cut it for real and release it. Warner's mother Blanche absolutely nailed the duet and harmony parts. It's a great delight for me to have it resurface here. Better late than never.
14. Window Town (Dipero-Ringenberg)
BMI
Produced by Barry Beckett.
Recorded by Justin Niebank at Digital Studios Nashville January 1989 during
the Thunder and Fire sessions.
It was used as a B-side to the Now That You're Mine English EP.
15. Buried Me Like a Bone (Baggs-Ringenberg-Hodges-Johnson)
Produced by Jason and the Scorchers.
Executive Producer: Jozef Nuyens.
Recorded by Mike Janas at The Castle Recording Studio (Nashville) the
fall of 1993.
This A Blazing Grace outtake and Hell's Gates EP B-side (England) was the first song we wrote and recorded after reforming in 1993. Many of our fans who heard the song live that year were mildly upset that we didn't use it on A Blazing Grace.
16. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town
(Mel Tillis)
Produced by Jason and the Scorchers.
Executive Producer: Jozef Nuyens.
Recorded by Mike Janas at The Castle Recording Studio.
This was also on the Hell's Gates EP and an outtake from the A Blazing Grace period. Rick Richards from The Georgia Satellites came up from Georgia and laid down some fierce slide guitar. All he wanted for his trouble was a 6 pack of beer. He was, is, and always will be a true rocker. It was quite a treat watching him and Warner hanging out together.
17. Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel
(Jimmie Rodgers)
Recorded in the spring of 1995 for the 99X Catspaw Radio Concerts In Atlanta
Georgia.
This was recorded during the unplugged days of the mid 90's. Dig Perry's harmonies and Jeff's acoustic bass!
18. Cappucino Rosie (Womack-Ringenberg)
BMI
Produced by Warner E. Hodges.
Recorded by Jeff Bakos at The Exit Inn (Nashville) November 7, 1997.
Midnight Roads and Stages Seen outtake. Originally on Clear Impetuous Morning, we rewrote it a bit and gave it a new twist.
19. Kings of the Weekend (Ringenberg-Hodges-Ames-Baggs)
Recorded June 15, 1999 at Javelina Studios.
Produced by J.C. Meyer and Ronnie Brooks.
An ad agency asked us to record a Bud beer jingle to submit to Budweiser. Historically we had never done that sort of thing but "times being what they were" we decided to jump into those morally obtuse waters. It wasn't accepted. That's probably a good thing. Y'all will have to guess which of us does the talking at the end.
20. Gospel Plow (traditional)
Produced by Warner E. Hodges and Jeff Johnson.
Recorded by Jeff Bakos at Bakos Amp Works in the winter of 1996.
We had played this song in 1981-82 and forgot about it until the Clear Impetuous Morning period. I guess re-releasing Reckless Country Soul brought back old memories for us at he time. This cut is from the CIM demo session. It is interesting to me how close it sounds and feels in spirit to the Absolutely Sweet Marie demo from 13 years earlier.
Cowboy Consultant: Dan Wall
Compilation Producer: Jason Ringenberg
Mastered by Mike Janas at The Castle Recording Studio for the payment
of one cedar doghouse to be built by Jason Ringenberg
Art Direction and Design: DG Strong
Tracks 1-9 (except #6) and tracks 15,
16, 17, and 20:
Jason Ringenberg: vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar
Warner E. Hodges: Lead electric and acoustic guitars, harmony vocals,
lead vocal on Polk Salad Annie
Perry Baggs: drums, harmony vocals, lead vocal on If Money Talks
Jeff Johnson: bass
Tracks 10-14:
Jason Ringenberg: vocals
Warner E. Hodges: Lead electric and acoustic guitars, lap steel, harmony
vocals
Perry Baggs: drums, harmony vocals
Andy York: electric and acoustic guitars, harmony vocals, dobro
Ken Fox: bass
Track 18 and 19:
Jason Ringenberg: vocals
Warner E. Hodges: guitars, harmony vocals
Perry Baggs: drums, harmony vocals
Kenny Ames: Bass
Tracks 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19 administered by Bug Music
Thanks: Capitol EMI, A&M Records, Mammoth Records
Special thanks:
Jack Emerson, Andrew McLenon, Deb Hodges, Ronnie Douglas, Kay Clary, Steve
Balcom, James Benkard, Jay Faires, Mike Hodge
Extra Special Thanks: Dan Wall (Good thing you kept all that stuff all those years!!!!)
Check out James Benkard's Jason and the Scorchers
fan site at
www.jasonandthescorchers.com
Email Courageous Chicken Records and Jason Ringenberg:
courageouschkn@cs.com
Jason Ringenberg's website: www.jasonringenberg.com
