Jason & the Scorchers
Encyclopedia
Jason & the Scorchers, originally Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, are a Cowpunk
/ Country rock
band formed in 1981 and led by singer/songwriter Jason Ringenberg
.
With a sound that straddles hard rock
, punk rock
and country music
, Jason and the Scorchers are noted for their energetic live performances, and have earned strong reviews from critics: Mark Deming, who declared they "blazed a trail for the cowpunk
and alt-country movements that followed in their wake."[]
Jason and the Scorchers continue to maintain a loyal cult following around the world. Jason and the Scorchers released their latest album Halcyon Times in February 2010.
, Ringenberg founded the group in 1981, and they soon established a strong reputation among indie-rock circles.
Country rock
was not a new concept. Some of rock's earliest pioneers like Elvis Presley
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, and Carl Perkins
established their reputations playing rockabilly
, a country-rock hybrid, and the late '60s and early '70s saw a new wave of country rock by performers such as Gram Parsons
, Neil Young
and the Eagles.
However, all of those efforts predated the raw sound of '70s punk and '80s alternative rock, and by the '80s, most country resembled mainstream pop, making Jason and the Scorchers something of a novelty in their hometown, Nashville
, Tennessee
, as their ragged, high-energy music was somewhat unprecedented. This made The Scorchers a natural for eclectic venues such as Nashville's Exit/In
.
Rock critic Jimmy Guterman reports that in late 1983, during a concert held "in the basement of a now-boarded Philadelphia dive...Jason Ringenberg balanced himself on a rickety stool...and wished aloud what he wanted his band to sound like. 'Like a religious service,' he said wistfully, 'only a lot dirtier.'"
According to the band's website, the Scorchers worked out "on stage what they had in their heads and hearts from their teenage years: roots in country, hearts in rock, minds more or less in the gutter. All the members of the band grew up around country music, but they were interested in rock as well. The way [guitarist] Warner E. Hodges told it, his father (who was a traveling USO musician) heard Warner's bands thrashing through Van Halen
and Kiss
-type songs and suggested that if they played Merle Haggard
or Johnny Cash
, it would sound great. So perhaps it was one part their own doing, one part Edgar Hodges', and one part divine inspiration."
As Guterman would later report, "onstage, the early Scorchers...eschew[ed] all subtlety. [Drummer] Perry Baggs concentrated on destroying his snare with style, and [bassist] Jeff Johnson stood intent and rail-straight, an ideal foil for the two wild men up front...Guitarist Warner Hodges slid from delicate lap steel to Keith Richards
-style guitar heroics without making one seem like a departure from the other. Whether he stood at the lip of the stage, leaning over the audience, sucking a cigarette, or he spun himself into speedy circles that would have made any mere mortal dizzy, Hodges personified the country boy too thrilled to be rocking to care how ridiculous he looked. The same went for Ringenberg. His own dancing during the rocking numbers suggested (The Honeymooners
) Ed Norton on methamphetamines, but when he strapped on his acoustic guitar and stood center stage, no one could argue that he wasn't haunted by the ghosts of Hank [Williams] and Lefty [Frizzell]."
's shortcomings as a marriage counselor, and an irreverent homage to Hank Williams - the band was able to erect a sound that approximated nothing so much as Joe Strummer
hurling a wrecking ball
through the Grand Ole Opry
. This was no joke."
was brought on board, new tracks were recorded, and a second EP was released with the title Fervor. By now, the Scorchers were fairly popular as a live act, and rock critics from noted publications began to take notice. Robert Christgau
praised Fervor in his "Consumer Guide" column, writing that "crossing Gram Parsons
's knowledge of sin with Joe Ely
's hellbent determination to get away with it, Jason Ringenberg leads a band no one can accuse of fecklessness, dabbling, revivalism, or undue irony. The lyrics strain against their biblical poetry at times, but anyone who hopes to take a popsicle into a disco is in no immediate danger of expiring of pretentiousness." Fervor also attracted much attention for its groundbreaking cover of Bob Dylan
's "Absolutely Sweet Marie." A song which originally appeared on Dylan's Blonde on Blonde
in 1966, the Scorchers' version did not originally appear on Reckless Country Soul but, newly recorded by Manning, was added as a bonus track to Fervor.
Fervor earned a great deal of critical praise, placing at #3 on The Village Voice
s Pazz & Jop
Critics Poll for 1983, and the Scorchers quickly followed it with two full-length LP's: Lost & Found produced by Terry Manning
, and Still Standing produced by Tom Werman. Both albums were critically acclaimed (particularly Lost & Found which placed at #22 on the Pazz & Jop
for 1985), but neither achieved any chart success. Pre-dating country music
's popular neotraditionalist movement of the late '80s and early '90s, the Scorchers were unable to obtain substantial airplay on either rock radio or country radio, as mainstream rock stations considered them "too country" while mainstream country stations considered them "too rock." In 1987, EMI dropped the Scorchers from its label, and Jeff Johnson left the band. He was replaced by Ken Fox, who later joined The Fleshtones
.
After the Scorchers split, Ringenberg turned to country-oriented solo work, Hodges moved to Los Angeles to work in the video business, and Johnson moved to Atlanta while Baggs remained in Nashville.
, Pearl Jam
, and Green Day
, alternative music had broken into mainstream culture; this change in the music scene encouraged the development of Alt country, a movement presaged by bands like Lone Justice
, X and the Scorchers. Groups like southern Illinois
's Uncle Tupelo
and Nashville
's the Kentucky Headhunters
were now building on the developments made by their predecessors.
. The band then released a new album in 1995, titled A Blazing Grace, which returned them to their original sound. The Scorchers then released another new record, Clear Impetuous Morning, in 1996.
folded Mammoth Records, two years after buying them out, leaving the Scorchers without a label. Since then, the band has independently released a live concert from 1985 on Ringenberg's own homemade label, Courageous Chicken Records. Titled Rock on Germany, it was released in 2001.
The band played several gigs in Scandinavia and Britain in May 2008, as you can see on Jason Ringenberg's official Website. This coincides with a couple of solo shows from Jason and Farmer Jason around the same time, and Warner E. Hodges solo shows (which you can see on Warner's myspace)end of April. This marks something like the real return of the band. There was also a US show at the Johnstown Folk Festival, Labor Day weekend 2008.
In June 2007 Jason & the Scorchers reunited for a Perry Baggs- Benefit- Show in Nashville at Exit/In
.
They also played one single European- gig in Spain in September 2007.
Warner E. Hodges is a full-time member of Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, touring through Europe in October 2007, as well as releasing a new Homemade Sin album 12 May 2008 on Jerkin Crocus Records, UK, and touring UK, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden
In 2007 Warner E Hodges, Kenny Ames and Fenner Castner played four UK shows under the name Ginger and The Scorchers, with Wildhearts frontman Ginger on vocals, as well as a full tour as a three piece solo Warner E Hodges project, he toured the UK again April 2008 (see myspace.com/warnerehodges).
Jason & The Scorchers recorded a new album—their first in eleven years—titled "Halcyon Times"in 2010. They are touring intermittently in support of this album, including four dates in January, 2011.
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
/ Country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
band formed in 1981 and led by singer/songwriter Jason Ringenberg
Jason Ringenberg
Jason Ringenberg is an American musician, and lead singer of Jason & the Scorchers. He is also a songwriter and guitarist....
.
With a sound that straddles hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, Jason and the Scorchers are noted for their energetic live performances, and have earned strong reviews from critics: Mark Deming, who declared they "blazed a trail for the cowpunk
Cowpunk
Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
and alt-country movements that followed in their wake."[]
Jason and the Scorchers continue to maintain a loyal cult following around the world. Jason and the Scorchers released their latest album Halcyon Times in February 2010.
Early days
A native of IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Ringenberg founded the group in 1981, and they soon established a strong reputation among indie-rock circles.
Country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
was not a new concept. Some of rock's earliest pioneers like Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, and Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
established their reputations playing rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, a country-rock hybrid, and the late '60s and early '70s saw a new wave of country rock by performers such as Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
and the Eagles.
However, all of those efforts predated the raw sound of '70s punk and '80s alternative rock, and by the '80s, most country resembled mainstream pop, making Jason and the Scorchers something of a novelty in their hometown, Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, as their ragged, high-energy music was somewhat unprecedented. This made The Scorchers a natural for eclectic venues such as Nashville's Exit/In
Exit/In
Exit/In is a music venue in Nashville, Tennessee. Exit/In is located on Elliston Place near Centennial Park and Vanderbilt University. It opened in 1971 under the management of Owsley Manier and Brugh Reynolds. As a small venue seating 200 or so, it developed its unique reputation in the 1970s...
.
Rock critic Jimmy Guterman reports that in late 1983, during a concert held "in the basement of a now-boarded Philadelphia dive...Jason Ringenberg balanced himself on a rickety stool...and wished aloud what he wanted his band to sound like. 'Like a religious service,' he said wistfully, 'only a lot dirtier.'"
According to the band's website, the Scorchers worked out "on stage what they had in their heads and hearts from their teenage years: roots in country, hearts in rock, minds more or less in the gutter. All the members of the band grew up around country music, but they were interested in rock as well. The way [guitarist] Warner E. Hodges told it, his father (who was a traveling USO musician) heard Warner's bands thrashing through Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
and Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
-type songs and suggested that if they played Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
or Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, it would sound great. So perhaps it was one part their own doing, one part Edgar Hodges', and one part divine inspiration."
As Guterman would later report, "onstage, the early Scorchers...eschew[ed] all subtlety. [Drummer] Perry Baggs concentrated on destroying his snare with style, and [bassist] Jeff Johnson stood intent and rail-straight, an ideal foil for the two wild men up front...Guitarist Warner Hodges slid from delicate lap steel to Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
-style guitar heroics without making one seem like a departure from the other. Whether he stood at the lip of the stage, leaning over the audience, sucking a cigarette, or he spun himself into speedy circles that would have made any mere mortal dizzy, Hodges personified the country boy too thrilled to be rocking to care how ridiculous he looked. The same went for Ringenberg. His own dancing during the rocking numbers suggested (The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
) Ed Norton on methamphetamines, but when he strapped on his acoustic guitar and stood center stage, no one could argue that he wasn't haunted by the ghosts of Hank [Williams] and Lefty [Frizzell]."
Debut EP
The Scorchers eventually released their debut, D.I.Y. EP, Reckless Country Soul, in 1982 on the independent Praxis label. Guterman would later write that it "captured the explosive band in its untutored infancy...Across its four terse, hilarious songs - full of rants against British hair bands [on 'Shot Down Again'], analyses of Jerry FalwellJerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
's shortcomings as a marriage counselor, and an irreverent homage to Hank Williams - the band was able to erect a sound that approximated nothing so much as Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
hurling a wrecking ball
Wrecking ball
A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most common during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball...
through the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. This was no joke."
Signing with EMI
The EP was well-received for an independent release, and when EMI signed the Scorchers in 1983, Producer/Engineer Terry ManningTerry Manning
Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....
was brought on board, new tracks were recorded, and a second EP was released with the title Fervor. By now, the Scorchers were fairly popular as a live act, and rock critics from noted publications began to take notice. Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
praised Fervor in his "Consumer Guide" column, writing that "crossing Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...
's knowledge of sin with Joe Ely
Joe Ely
Joe Ely is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas Country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll....
's hellbent determination to get away with it, Jason Ringenberg leads a band no one can accuse of fecklessness, dabbling, revivalism, or undue irony. The lyrics strain against their biblical poetry at times, but anyone who hopes to take a popsicle into a disco is in no immediate danger of expiring of pretentiousness." Fervor also attracted much attention for its groundbreaking cover of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Absolutely Sweet Marie." A song which originally appeared on Dylan's Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
in 1966, the Scorchers' version did not originally appear on Reckless Country Soul but, newly recorded by Manning, was added as a bonus track to Fervor.
Fervor earned a great deal of critical praise, placing at #3 on The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
s Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
Critics Poll for 1983, and the Scorchers quickly followed it with two full-length LP's: Lost & Found produced by Terry Manning
Terry Manning
Terry Manning is a music producer, songwriter, photographer and recording engineer known for work in rock, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres....
, and Still Standing produced by Tom Werman. Both albums were critically acclaimed (particularly Lost & Found which placed at #22 on the Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
for 1985), but neither achieved any chart success. Pre-dating country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
's popular neotraditionalist movement of the late '80s and early '90s, the Scorchers were unable to obtain substantial airplay on either rock radio or country radio, as mainstream rock stations considered them "too country" while mainstream country stations considered them "too rock." In 1987, EMI dropped the Scorchers from its label, and Jeff Johnson left the band. He was replaced by Ken Fox, who later joined The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...
.
Third LP and split-up
After a three-year "fallow period," the Scorchers released a third LP, Thunder and Fire, where they steered more towards hard-rock. Reviews were mixed, often negative, and sales were disappointing. "The songs were more metal-influenced," according to the band's website, "as Warner [Hodges] had a big hand in the production. Then Perry Baggs was diagnosed with diabetes during a tour in 1990. Warner called Jason and said he couldn't do it any more. As Warner said it later, 'we didn't break up, we fell apart.'"After the Scorchers split, Ringenberg turned to country-oriented solo work, Hodges moved to Los Angeles to work in the video business, and Johnson moved to Atlanta while Baggs remained in Nashville.
Compact Disc retrospective
A few years later, EMI Records hired Jimmy Guterman to compile a compact disc retrospective of the Scorchers' music. A single compact disc containing 22 tracks, Are You Ready for the Country?: The Essential Jason and the Scorchers, Volume 1 was issued in the fall of 1992, including all of Fervor, Lost and Found, and four rarities. (Reportedly, plans for a second volume never materialized.) The compilation would fall out-of-print years later, replaced by a shorter compilation that excluded all of the rarities, but it helped introduce the Scorchers to a new generation of listeners who were experiencing a different musical landscape.Alt country goes mainstream
By the mid-1990s, following the unprecedented success of NirvanaNirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
, and Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
, alternative music had broken into mainstream culture; this change in the music scene encouraged the development of Alt country, a movement presaged by bands like Lone Justice
Lone Justice
Lone Justice was an American country rock band formed in 1982 by guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and singer Maria McKee.-Early era:They began their career as part of the L.A. cowpunk scene of the 1980s. Lone Justice was inspired by Hedgecock and McKee's mutual affection for rockabilly and country music...
, X and the Scorchers. Groups like southern Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
's Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
and Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
's the Kentucky Headhunters
The Kentucky Headhunters
The Kentucky Headhunters are an American country rock band. They were founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which comprised brothers Richard Young and Fred Young along with Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney...
were now building on the developments made by their predecessors.
90s Reunion
According to the band's website. it was around this time that "Jeff [Johnson] bought a copy of Essential Jason and the Scorchers, Volume 1...He liked it and decided to try to re-unite the band." Johnson contacted Hodges first, who hadn't played guitar in roughly a year. Hodges hung up on Johnson after hearing him suggest a reunion, but Johnson called six more times that same night. Eventually, Johnson tried Ringenberg, calling him at four in the morning "until Jason agreed to do it." Hodges eventually agreed to a reunion as well, "with his rationale being 'Okay, I won't be the bad guy.'" Baggs also agreed to the reunion, and with the original Scorchers together again, the group began touring in 1993. The reunion shows were a critical and commercial success, eventually extending into 1994. A demo tape of new recordings were also made that year, and Ringenberg was able to secure the band to a new contract with Mammoth Records in Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
. The band then released a new album in 1995, titled A Blazing Grace, which returned them to their original sound. The Scorchers then released another new record, Clear Impetuous Morning, in 1996.
Departure of Jeff Johnson
In 1997, Jeff Johnson amicably departed from the band, wishing to be with his wife and essentially retiring from the music business; he was replaced by Kenny Ames. A live album, Midnight Roads and Stages Seen, was recorded that November and later released in May 1998.Independent releases
In 1999, Walt Disney RecordsWalt Disney Records
Walt Disney Records is a family music record label owned by the Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Records was formed in 1956 as Disneyland Records. Before that time, Disney recordings were licensed out to a variety of other labels such as . It was Walt Disney’s brother Roy O...
folded Mammoth Records, two years after buying them out, leaving the Scorchers without a label. Since then, the band has independently released a live concert from 1985 on Ringenberg's own homemade label, Courageous Chicken Records. Titled Rock on Germany, it was released in 2001.
2010 Reunion
Due to the success of recent concerts performed in the U.S. and throughout Europe, Jason and the Scorchers have officially reunited with original members Jason Ringenberg and Warner Hodges. Bassist Al Collins and drummer Pontus Snibb are current members of the band. The band are currently touring and performing in support of the new Jason and the Scorchers album "Halcyon Times," which the band released on March 2, 2010. It can be purchased at concerts and from the band's official website.Jason & The Scorchers
- Reckless Country Soul EP (1982)
- Fervor EPFervor EP-Track listing:# "Absolutely Sweet Marie" – 3:09# "Help There's a Fire" – 2:26# "I Can't Help Myself" – 2:51# "Hot Nights in Georgia" – 2:28...
(1983) - Lost and Found (1985)
- Still Standing (1986)
- Thunder and Fire (1989)
- Essential Jason & the Scorchers - Are You Ready For The Country? (1992)
- A Blazing Grace (1995)
- Both Sides of the Line (1996)
- Clear Impetuous Morning (1996) aka "Self-sabotage"
- Reckless Country Soul (1998)
- Midnight Roads & Stages Seen (1998)
- Rock on Germany (2001)
- Wildfires and Misfires (2001)
- Still Standing (2002) - 1996 Re-release
- Halcyon Times (2010)
Side projects
- One Foot in the Honky Tonk (1992) - Jason Ringenberg Solo
- A Pocketful of Soul (2000) - Jason Ringenberg Solo
- All Over Creation (2002) - Jason Ringenberg Solo
- Disciples of Loud (2003) - Warner Hodges Solo
- A Day At The Farm With Farmer Jason (2003) - Farmer Jason
- Empire Builders (2004) - Jason Ringenberg Solo
- Rockin' In The Forest With Farmer Jason (2006) - Farmer Jason
- Best Tracks & Side Tracks 1979 - 2007 (2007) - Jason Ringenberg Solo
- Centerline (2008) Warner E. Hodges Solo
Awards
On September 18, 2008, Jason and the Scorchers received the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performance Category. The band performed during the Annual Awards Show at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium. Bassist Jeff Johnson participated at this event, the first time that all four of the original band members played together on stage since 19 January 1997, when the Scorchers played Club Zydeco in Birmingham, Alabama. Warner Hodges and Jason Ringenberg led a modified version of the Scorchers through a full set at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville after the Americana awards.Current status
Ringenberg now performs as Farmer Jason and does children's music. He also performs solo shows playing his own stuff and even Scorchers classics.The band played several gigs in Scandinavia and Britain in May 2008, as you can see on Jason Ringenberg's official Website. This coincides with a couple of solo shows from Jason and Farmer Jason around the same time, and Warner E. Hodges solo shows (which you can see on Warner's myspace)end of April. This marks something like the real return of the band. There was also a US show at the Johnstown Folk Festival, Labor Day weekend 2008.
In June 2007 Jason & the Scorchers reunited for a Perry Baggs- Benefit- Show in Nashville at Exit/In
Exit/In
Exit/In is a music venue in Nashville, Tennessee. Exit/In is located on Elliston Place near Centennial Park and Vanderbilt University. It opened in 1971 under the management of Owsley Manier and Brugh Reynolds. As a small venue seating 200 or so, it developed its unique reputation in the 1970s...
.
They also played one single European- gig in Spain in September 2007.
Warner E. Hodges is a full-time member of Dan Baird & Homemade Sin, touring through Europe in October 2007, as well as releasing a new Homemade Sin album 12 May 2008 on Jerkin Crocus Records, UK, and touring UK, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden
In 2007 Warner E Hodges, Kenny Ames and Fenner Castner played four UK shows under the name Ginger and The Scorchers, with Wildhearts frontman Ginger on vocals, as well as a full tour as a three piece solo Warner E Hodges project, he toured the UK again April 2008 (see myspace.com/warnerehodges).
Jason & The Scorchers recorded a new album—their first in eleven years—titled "Halcyon Times"in 2010. They are touring intermittently in support of this album, including four dates in January, 2011.