A Day At The Farm with Farmer Jason


Country Standard Time
February 25, 2004

Getting down on the farm with Jason Ringenberg, er, Farmer Jason
Jason Ringenberg has transformed himself into Farmer Jason for his new "A Day At The Farm With Farmer Jason" album. On the CD cover, he's illustrated as an animated figure racing out of the barn atop a souped-up John Deere tractor. The package also includes a warning sticker that reads, "Parental Advisory: This CD contains songs that will have you singing along with your kids."

That's right, moms and dads and boys and girls, "A Day At The Farm With Farmer Jason" is Ringenberg's farm-centered first children's album.

Speaking on the night before Thanksgiving via phone while out and about running errands, Ringenberg says, "We won't be eating turkey, that's for sure. We'll be having tofu turkey because we're organic vegetarians."

This farmer - albeit a self-described hobbyist farmer - is certainly not a carnivorous farmer. And maybe that's why there's so much love in his voice when he's singing about chickens ("A Guitar Pickin' Chicken"), horses ("Whoa There Pony!"), cows ("I'm Just An Old Cow"), pigs ("He's A Hog Hog Hog") dogs ("The Doggie Dance"), cats ("Little Kitty") and sheep ("Hey Little Lamb").

"Farmer Jason doesn't hurt his animals," the kindly Ringenberg reminds.

Ringenberg can concentrate on fun projects, like this children's album, because his beloved Jason & the Scorchers cow punk band has pretty much called it a day again.

"There really isn't much left of the band," Ringenberg admits sadly. "Jeff (Johnson) left several years ago, and we replaced him. But then Perry (Baggs) left two years ago, and that really put a damper on the band because replacing Perry would be really hard to do. We do a few shows now and again, but nothing serious." But with three solo albums under his belt - or are they tucked under his overalls? - Ringenberg is now firmly established as a solo artist.

Farmer Jason looks and sounds like an agricultural natural dressed in his barnyard duds. Not surprisingly, this outside-the-city-limits album came together fairly spontaneously. When he first conceived it, he had his three daughters - Helsey Beth, Camille Grace and Addie Rose - in mind.

"It just seemed like a really cool thing to do; that they could have an album to listen to while I'm out on the road and stuff. Originally, it was just going to be kind of a fun thing, something I was going to do, just for sort of a whim. But it's grown into much more than that, actually. It seems to be really taking off. There was no laboring on this record. The stuff just poured out. It was so easy and so much fun to write. I had an absolute riot writing these songs. It was totally fun. And I think you can kind of hear it on the tracks."

"A Day At The Farm" reminds one of a more innocent time in music and culture. It contrasts markedly with, say, the recent remake of "A Cat In The Hat," which is said to contain a lot of sexual innuendo in it for the soul purpose of keeping the attention of adult film goers.

But Ringenberg's new project is just good, straightforward fun music, which is refreshing.
"I did want Farmer Jason to hearken back to a different kind of time for children," Ringenberg explains. "I wanted him to sort of feel like the wonderful upbringing I had on the farm. I kind of wanted to bring some of that across with Farmer Jason. Hopefully, listeners will get some of that feeling of rural life. With the farm animals and life on the farm, it's an absolutely wonderful way to grow up. It's definitely a dying thing, since very few people live a rural life anymore."

Nevertheless, Ringenberg wanted moms and dads to get something out of it.

"I definitely wanted to make a record that adults could also find some value in as well," Ringenberg notes. "That was important to me. I've always felt like kids like good music. My kids, for example, love Abba. I've had all kinds of folks say that they've had kids that love Jason & the Scorchers. So I really wanted to make a record that had really good energy and a lot of really good hooks. I didn't want to dumb it down, you know? Obviously, the subject matter's going to be a little bit different - even for adults. But I really wanted to have good energy and good playing. I really wanted to have good musicianship on the record, with good arrangements and good production."

Adults who know their country music history will immediately warm up to the track, "I'm Just An Old Cow," since its guitar riff is borrowed straight from Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line," and its low and cow-y lead vocal is a friendly nod to the recently deceased Man In Black.

"I think anybody who's ever played the kind of music that I play, would have to be a fan of Johnny Cash," Ringenberg readily admits. "I really wanted it (the track) to be low," Ringenberg explains. "And whenever you set your voice low, you're gonna take on Cash inflections."

This album, as its title succinctly summarizes, follows Farmer Jason throughout a typical day at the farm. Along his way, he sings and talks about the plants, equipment and animals he sees there.

"I wanted the music to be very entertaining and catchy so that it would stick in their (the kids') minds - and in adults' minds, as well. I was successful, I think. But I also wanted to do some light education, as well. I didn't have any pretensions that this was going to be like Sesame Street where it was going to be serious education. But I did want to teach some lessons. The lessons that I overwhelmingly did want to get across was to respect your animals and take care of them and take on the responsibility of being good to them."

Ringenberg drew upon his real life farming experiences for much of this album's inspiration.

"We have a lot of our own food," he says. "And we have a pony, and we have some chickens. And we have pot belly pig, and we're thinking about getting some goats."

He also looked back to his own childhood roots to help him create this project.

"I was raised on an Illinois hog farm, so I come from generations of farmers. We were a family farm. It was very old fashioned, very traditional. All the relatives were in the area, all of them were farmers. I come from that environment, and I know it about as well as anyone in this country. It's sad what's happened to the family farm. It is now a thing of the past. Even so, my dad still hangs in there. He's 81 years old. He still has his 120-acre farm and his little old corn-picker and his International 400 tractor. He is definitely an anachronism."

One of the lessons he learned from being the son of a farmer was that families stick together and play together. So it's not surprising to hear his little girls' voices all over this album.

"They sang on some tracks, and some of their friends came by and sang on some choruses," recalls Ringenberg. "They helped me write 'The Doggie Dance' song. We were just sitting around, the three of us, and I was humming the track. So they were just kind of jumping in and singing along, singing rhymes and rhyming words and stuff. It was a fun thing to have them as the co-writer. Addie, especially, is very conscious that she helped co-write a song. She scares me at times because she can be very Music City about stuff. She's very very aware that her dad is a star in her mind. She really likes that. She thinks that's very cool."

Many in Ringenberg's family take a keen interest in his career. While his daughter attaches herself to his music business coattails, his mom continuously gives him timely suggestions.

"Not a day goes by that she doesn't give me ideas of what to do about these things," says Ringenberg of his mom. "She's like Reuben Kincaid (the Partridge Family show character) because she's always thinking of something to make me famous."

Ringenberg knew he had something worth getting excited about - even while he was making this album. Thus, he didn't really need any second or third opinions.

"I was confident that we were on to something good, so I was willing to take my chances. What I have seen is that kids really like this record. I mean a lot. I thought that maybe adults would like it more than kids - I really thought that. Now, I'm getting parents that are coming up to me and saying, 'I absolutely hate you! The kids just want to hear your stuff all the time, and it's driving us crazy!' So I reckon I've been a success."

Brad Talbott's album illustrations are all animated figures, from the tall guitar playing chicken for "A Guitar Pickin' Chicken" to the Elvis-outfitted pig of "He's A Hog Hog Hog" to friendly Farmer Jason himself.

Ringenberg is mum about what else might be done with this Farmer Jason character in the future. "I'll use the old Abraham Lincoln quote, that the chicken is the smartest creature in all God's earth because she doesn't cluck until after she lays the egg."" But it may happen. We'll see."

Ringenberg will always be best known for his scorching, yet heartfelt, music with and without The Scorchers.
Nevertheless, his label Yep Roc has been equally excited about this little musical side road of his. "They went over the top about it," he recalls. "I've never seen them more excited. And they've always been into what I do. They're going to plow this field for all it's worth. This is their first children's record, so they're learning as they go. But they'll get it. Yep Roc is a very strong and a very good record company."

Don't be surprised if Ringenberg, as Farmer Jason, comes put-putting to your town soon.

"In Alaska, I did a benefit for a sixth grade class that was that was going to tour the glaciers and needed money for that. I also played for Addie Rose's kindergarten class yesterday for her birthday. I've done some benefits in Washington, D.C. for a homeless shelter. I'm starting to do shows around as plain old Farmer Jason shows."

"Yesterday, I had the greatest experience," he marvels. "I actually wrote a song with the class. A song called, 'We Go To Stewart Burns' - that's the name of the school."

Farmer Jason has his John Deere all revved up now ready to hit the road. And who knows, he may even grow a new song for you, right before your very eyes.

Dan MacIntosh