Folking Cool
August 2009
by Hugh Wilson
In 1985 Jason and the Scorchers arrived in England trailing two stand-out albums of Nashville country punk and surfing a wave of indie Americana that also brought with it REM, The Replacements and The Meat Puppets, among others. I was 15 when I saw the band play Leeds Astoria, on a balmy July evening. At 39, I’ve rarely seen a better gig.

Today, REM are rock royalty, and The Replacements are at least kinda cool, but the Scorchers are all-but forgotten. At least that’s how it seems from here. After those two records of peerless hard country-rock (1984’s Fervor EP, and 1985’s Lost and Found), I lost sight of the Scorchers. I’d assumed that Jason Ringenberg, the band’s singer and inspiration, had gone back to the hog farm. It comes as a pleasant surprise to find that he’s been churning out some very fine examples of what may now be called alt. country all this time.

Best Tracks and Side Tracks 1979-2007, is a celebration of those labours, a compilation of Ringenberg’s solo material (plus a couple of re-worked Scorchers tracks). There’s some throwaway stuff here (The Life of the Party, just, well, isn’t) but the highlights are almost perfect slices of either rock-tinged country, or country-tinged rock. Old Scorchers rocker Shop It Around has been re-worked and sounds thrillingly Byrds-esque. Bible And A Gun, written with Steve Earle, and The Price of Progress, show just what a master of the plaintive lyric and yearning melody Ringenberg remains. These songs don’t zip like the best of the Scorchers, but others here do (Prosperity Train).

Still, Ringenberg, shorn of the Scorchers, has more of the country in his soul and less of the punk. But on this evidence, he deserves a wider audience anyway.