Well folks, we’re going High Concept tonight, combining our Man in Virginia, JCE’s Pencil Storm & Proust, Remembrance of Bands Past with TV Party Tonight! into one great big Saturday Night Special. Tonight’s feature is Jason & the Scorchers.
(previous Pencil Storm & Proust blogs can be found here: part one, 98 Colours and part the second, Mother May I. )
I previously wrote about two other fairly obscure bands (one more so than the other) under this Pencilstorm & Proust theme conceived by Ricki C. Today I am compelled to write about one more band that is near and dear to me, though perhaps a little less obscure. Jason and the Scorchers began as Jason and the Nashville Scorchers around 1981. I saw them for the first time sometime in the summer of 1982.
Discovering the Band
There was a local band in Washington D.C. that I saw all the time called Tru Fax & the Insaniacs. I went to see them one night at the old 9:30 Club and the opening band was one I had never heard of—Jason & the Nashville Scorchers. I did not have high hopes, as nothing remotely country sounded appealing to me. Anyway, Jason and his bandmates hit the stage and from the opening chords, you could tell that “Scorchers” was an excellent description of this rock n roll outfit. Warner Hodges is to this day one my favorite guitarists that I have ever seen live. Every song was just balls to the wall. They ended their set with a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” but I can tell you it was a far cry from your average cover song. I absolutely loved it. There was a whole other bunch of craziness going on that night which I need not go into, but it does help me recall this show in some detail. The experience of seeing Jason & the Nashville Scorchers in their most raw & rocking state was what I will remember forever.
Fan for Life
Jason & the Scorchers, having dropped “Nashville” from their name, released an ep called Fervor in 1983. While every song was good, the highlight was easily the Bob Dylan tune “Absolutely Sweet Marie.” I played that song endlessly. They followed with two full length releases and it seemed like each one was getting better than the last. Lost & Found (1985) and Still Standing (1986) were both great. The next time I got to see the band live would have been on the Lost & Found tour. I saw them in Charlottesville and my best friends from the band 98 Colours got to open the show, at Trax Nightclub. My buddies always said it was great to open for a band they loved that was also a band made up of a bunch of gracious, nice guys. It was a killer show, with 98 Colours playing the best set I ever saw them play and Jason & the Scorchers doing what they do. Rocking. Like crazy.
TNT from Tennessee
A few years later came the release of Thunder and Fire (1989). The band went a little more into the hard- rock arena with this one. The reviews were mixed and sales were poor, but for me, it was a masterpiece once again. Two of my favorite Jason & the Scorchers songs are on this record: “Now That You’re Mine” and “When the Angels Cry.” To support the album, Jason & the Scorchers teamed up with another great artist named Webb Wilder and went on the TNT from Tennessee Tour as a sort of double headlining bill, although Webb Wilder opened all of the shows as far as I know. I don’t expect Pencilstorm readers to know the geography of Virginia, but I was living in Charlottesville, commuting an hour north to Culpeper to work. Richmond is a little better than an hour south and east of Charlottesville, and Virginia Beach would be close to three hours from Charlottesville. I went to work on a Thursday morning, left just a tad early and went back through Charlottesville to pick up a friend and then went on to Richmond to see the TNT from Tennessee Tour at a club called Rockitz. It blew my doors off. One of my favorite shows ever.
I slogged to work the next day on about three hours of sleep and got a call at lunchtime from the same friend I had gone with the night before. “The TNT tour is in Virginia Beach tonight. Let’s go, it’s at The Boathouse,” she says. I left work early again and drove all the way to VA Beach for another dose of one of the best live bands I have ever seen. I got home Saturday morning at about 5:00 a.m. Two of the best rock n roll nights of my life.
More Great Records
I’ve related the four times that I got to see the band live. I wish it was a lot more. There have been a number of releases over the years, some much better than others. I can tell you that A Blazing Grace (1995), Clear Impetuous Morning (1996) and Halcyon Times (2010) are all very good records. Jason, without the Scorchers, has made a string of children’s records as well. My own daughter enjoyed A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason which I highly recommend for the toddler set. Jason (Jason Ringenberg, for the record) has made a bunch of solo records for adults as well, but they are all pretty much country and just aren’t in my wheelhouse.
God Bless the Ramones
In 2019, Jason Ringenberg released Stand Tall, another solo country record. It has a song on it called “God Bless the Ramones.” It tells the undoubtedly true story of Jason and the Nashville Scorchers touring through Texas opening for the Ramones. It is a humorous and pretty fun song all the way around. It’s the final video loaded below. I’ll end my story with that. Give it a listen. - JCE
“Absolutely Sweet Marie”
“Now That You’re Mine”
“God Bless The Ramones” / Jason Ringenberg, 2019