THE FARMER & THE COWMAN AT LAST!
Don’t want to make any rash claims or nuthin’ but I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF MY TURN-TABLE AND IT INCLUDES LOTS OF JASON & THE SCORCHERS. Yup and double yup. Y’ see, during the last couple of years, more and more bands on the post-punk periphery have taken to spicing up their sounds with country flavorings and some of ’em—True West and the Beat Farmers are two that come to mind—seem to be getting their recipes in order.
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THE FARMER & THE COWMAN AT LAST!
JASON & THE SCORCHERS Lost & Found (EMI)
Michael Davis
Don’t want to make any rash claims or nuthin’ but I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF MY TURN-TABLE AND IT INCLUDES LOTS OF JASON & THE SCORCHERS. Yup and double yup.
Y’ see, during the last couple of years, more and more bands on the post-punk periphery have taken to spicing up their sounds with country flavorings and some of ’em—True West and the Beat Farmers are two that come to mind—seem to be getting their recipes in order. But for music with a lot more strength to it, it makes sense to check out artists whose roots run deeper than last week’s oat opera re-runs. These guys used to be called Jason & The Nashville Scorchers, and I bet they did.
Now that bit of info might make some of you wonder if they’re more country or more rock ’n’ roll, but once “Last Time Around” kicks in, evoking crazy comparisons of Buddy Holly fronting Husker Du, shee-it, who cares about categories? They’ve got more brute force than anybody this side of Blood On The Saddle, but they’ve also got lotsa finesse, great tunes, good singing, yadda yadda, rave rave.
The songs run the gamut from good to great. They’re direct, catchy and hook-filled and these great lines keep popping out ail over the place: “I’m the final survivor in your heart’s ghost town,” “You went to church in your party dress,” “If money talks, I wish it’d talk to me,” “I can’t go on living in your broken whiskey glass.” They’re sung with this voice of equal parts heart and gumption; it’s as if Jason Ringenberg has already learned all he needs to know from Gram Parsons instead of still studying his moves like a lotta country-punk pretenders seem to be doing.
And the closer you listen to this album, the better it gets. You find out that the guys in the rhythm section write good tunes, too, and that lead guitarist Warner Hodges sounds like he’s played everything from bluegrass to heavy metal at one time and is putting it all together right now. In your ear. And when they bring in an outside fiddle player, they choose Jerry Lee Lewis’s bandleader, Kenny Lovelace. Basically, they do everything right; I see ’em appealing to everybody from Tom Petty supporters to Meat Puppets fans.
So I hope that answers the question I sidestepped a few paragraphs back. These guys are both more country and more rock ’n’ roll and if you don’t think that’s possible, you just go tell it to Jerry Lee. If you’ve got the guts to do that, you might be ready for Jason & The Scorchers.
