Tag: Jason Ringenberg

Jason and the Scorchers – Absolutely Sweet Marie

I first heard this band in the 1980s in Nashville. A rock band that even hit the MTV playlists. When I first posted them years ago I didn’t think I would get a huge response. People from outside of Nashville and the surrounding states had probably never heard of them, or so I thought. People from New Zealand, UK, and around the world had heard of this band. They were big on college radio and they had many ties with Nashville and played here quite often. I can’t really explain how much of a powerful band they were in a live setting.

I first heard them do a live version of “The Race Is On”…the old George Jones song, and it won me over. They were really a big deal in the southeast in the mid-eighties and should have spread more. Their music seemed to have a kinship to the Georgia Satellites and The Blasters, but they were a little more country. They did have some MTV play with  Golden Ball and Chain. The best way to describe them is they lived in a place where country met punk, where Hank Williams shook hands with the Ramones. This is before I found The Replacements, so this excited me to hear real rock and roll on the radio and live. 

They turned Dylan’s Absolutely Sweet Marie into a barn burner of a song. What I love most is how natural it feels. They didn’t force a punk edge onto Dylan; they exposed one that was there all along. Jason Ringenberg charges into the lyrics like a man trying to outrun a tornado on an open highway. 

This song came out in 1983 and was on their Fervor EP. It was released by a small label called Praxis, but they were signed by EMI, and they re-released the EP the following year. Jason had to convince his bandmates to cover this, and I’m thankful they agreed. They broke up in 1989 but have reunited off and on since then. The last time was in Nashville last year. Jason continues to release solo albums. 

In the video of the song, you can see them going into Tootsies Orchid Lounge, a famous place in Nashville that I’ve haunted a few times in the 1980s and 90s. 

Absolutely Sweet Marie

Well, your railroad gate, you know I just can’t jump itSometimes it gets so, so hard, you see.I’m just sitting here beating on my trumpet,With all these promises you left for me.So where are you tonight?Where are you tonight, sweet Marie?

Well, I waited for you when I was-a half sickWell, I waited for you when you hated me.Well, I waited for you inside the frozen traffic,When you knew I had some other place to be.

Where are you tonight?Where are you tonight, sweet Marie?Well, I don’t know how it happenedBut the riverboat captain, he knows my fate.Let’s do this baby, even you maybe, It’s just gonna have to wait, wait, wait- Yeah!

Where are you tonight?Where are you tonight, sweet Marie?Well, anybody can be just like me, obviouslyThen again not any of them are like you, fortunately… fortunately!Six white horses, that you did promiseWere finally delivered to the penitentiaryBut to live outside the law, you must be honest, darling.I know you will always say that you agree.So, where are you tonight?Where are you tonight, sweet Marie? Alright!Where are you tonight? Where are you tonight?Where are you tonight, sweet Marie?

…

Jason and The Scorchers – Golden Ball and Chain

Jason & The Scorchers had a cult following in Nashville and around parts of the world in the 80s and got some airplay on MTV at the time…they were led by frontman Jason Ringenberg and they released a couple of EPs before releasing their debut album Lost & Found in 1985. They were classified at one time as alt-country but I would add rock/punk/rockabilly in there also.

I first heard them do a live version of “The Race Is On”…the old George Jones song and it won me over. They were really a big deal in the southeast in the middle eighties and should have spread more. Their music seemed to have a kinship to the Georgia Satellites but they were a little more country. Seeing them live is an event…Jason is all over the stage.

The band was formed in 1981. They were together through the 80s till the drummer Perry Baggs was diagnosed with diabetes and could not finish a 1990 tour. They have regrouped since then off and on and altogether have released 15 albums with the last one being in 2010. In 2012 Perry Baggs passed away because of diabetes.

They played a mixture between country and rock and fell into the cracks. They seemed to rock for country and too country for rock. Live they were unbeatable.

One of the things that made the band different is Jason wanted to sound country but guitar player Warner Hodges wanted to sound like AC/DC…that interplay made them unique. This song was off of their 1986 album Still Standing. The album peaked at #91 on the Billboard Album chart in 1987.

Golden Ball and Chain (written by Ringenberg) peaked at #16 in the Billboard Rock Mainstream Songs.

Golden Ball and Chain

“Oh hello there” you coughed and smiled
Your hair messed up enough, a little wild
You said, “I’m sorry but it’s all a waste
Not a whole meal just a little taste”

Now you’ve nothing left to fight and gain
Another line another carved link of your name
On the golden ball and chain

L.A. it calls and London grooms the star
Get on the phone to find out who you are
But happiness was a dying trend
You say you saw that train around the bend

That was carrying its weight in pain
The engine straining on the full weight of your name
And the golden ball and chain

You saw it then, you saw the sign
A drowning sailor in a jug of wine
First it was her, but now it’s you
No psychoanalyst is there to tell you what to do

So now you whimper like a helpless child
You broke when they quit saying you were wild
But your tears they are like grass in sand
They speak to no one, they give no command

No there’s nothing left to cleanse the stain
Another line another carved link of your name
On the golden ball and chain

Jason and the Scorchers – Lost Highway

I truly love this band. They filled a space in the 80s for me. Loud unprocessed guitars with sparse production. They were close to the Georgia Satellites but more of a Rockabilly band on steroids. I was talking to fellow blogger Obbverse and he brought them up and I was very surprised he knew them. Not many outside the Southeast of America know much about them.

In the mid-eighties, I had a friend who was big into Jason and the Scorchers so I gave them a listen. They were big on college radio and they had many ties with Nashville and played here quite often. I saw them and Webb Wilder live downtown once. That is when I heard them do “The Race Is On”…the old George Jones song and it won me over. Their music seemed to have a kinship to the Georgia Satellites but they were a little more robust. They did have some MTV play with the song Golden Ball and Chain.

The band was formed in 1981. They were together through the 80s till the drummer Perry Baggs was diagnosed with diabetes and could not finish a 1990 tour. They have regrouped since then off and on and altogether have released 15 albums with the last one being in 2010. In 2012 Perry Baggs passed away because of diabetes.

They played a mixture between country and rock but fell into the cracks. They seemed too rock for country and too country for rock. Their concerts were simply unbeatable. They were led by frontman Jason Ringenberg and they released a couple of EPs before releasing their debut album Lost & Found in 1985. They were classified at one time as alt-country but I would add rock/punk/rockabilly in there also.

One of the things that made the band different is Jason wanted to sound country but guitar player Warner Hodges wanted to sound like AC/DC…that interplay made them unique. This song was on their 1985 album Lost and Found. The album peaked at #86 on the Australian album chart in 1987.

Most people will know the song Lost Highway…a hit by Hank Williams. It’s surprising but Hank didn’t write this song. Leon Payne wrote and released this song in 1948. Blind since he was a child, Payne wrote hundreds of songs, some of which were recorded by  Hank Williams, John Prine, Elvis Presley, George Jones, Johnny Cash, and many more.

I also added another live cover they did as a bonus…the old George Jones hit The Race Is On. 

Jason Ringenberg: “I kinda wanted to make a supercharged roots-rock band, some people were caught by surprise, but by and large people fell in love immediately. There was nobody else like us.”

Lost Highway

I’m a rollin’ stone, all alone and lost
For a life of sin I have paid the cost
When I pass by all the people say
Just another guy on the lost highway

Just a deck of cards, and a jug of wine
And a woman’s lies makes a life like mine
Oh, the day we met, I went astray
I started rollin’ down that lost highway

I was just a lad, nearly twenty-two
Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you
And now I’m lost, too late to pray
Lord, I’ve paid the cost on the lost highway

Now, boys, don’t start your ramblin’ around
On this road of sin, or you’re sorrow bound
Take my advice, or you’ll curse the day
You started rollin’ down that lost highway

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