Jason & the Scorchers weren't quite the first band that attempted to fuse country and punk rock, but no one before them (and precious few since) did it in a way that honored what was best about both genres. Jason Ringenberg's feral vocals, Warner Hodges' growling guitar, and the hard snap of Perry Baggs' drums and Jeff Johnson's bass made for pure, overdriven rock & roll, but Ringenberg made no attempt to soften the natural twang of his voice or the rural influences in his lyrics, and the group's country accents were honest ...
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Jason & the Scorchers weren't quite the first band that attempted to fuse country and punk rock, but no one before them (and precious few since) did it in a way that honored what was best about both genres. Jason Ringenberg's feral vocals, Warner Hodges' growling guitar, and the hard snap of Perry Baggs' drums and Jeff Johnson's bass made for pure, overdriven rock & roll, but Ringenberg made no attempt to soften the natural twang of his voice or the rural influences in his lyrics, and the group's country accents were honest, pure, and un-ironic, and arguably closer to the heart of classic country than most of what was coming out of Nashville in the early '80s. While Jason & the Scorchers made their recorded debut with an indie EP in 1982, it was the 1983 EP Fervor that won them a contract with EMI-America and gained them an international audience, and this two-fer CD pairs up Fervor with the group's first full-length album, 1985's Lost & Found, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better representation of this group at its peak. Fervor opens with a supercharged cover of Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" that outruns everything else on the EP, but the original tunes are where the Scorchers really show off their stuff; "Pray for Me, Mama (I'm a Gypsy Now)" practically channels Merle Haggard, "Hot Nights in Georgia" and "Harvest Moon" rock hard while acknowledging their Nashville roots, and "Help, There's a Fire" is an irresistibly silly would-be single. Lost & Found upped the ante on Fervor and left no doubt that the EP's excellence was no fluke. "Last Time Around" and "White Lies" charge out of the gate like a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby, but the roaring cover of "Lost Highway" let the song run wild without robbing it of its pathos, and "Shop It Around," "Broken Whiskey Glass," and especially "Far Behind" mirror the flinty, heart-tugging passion of vintage Nashville songwriting at its best. Fervor and Lost & Found were hardly the only good records Jason & the Scorchers would make, but they rarely hit on all cylinders as strongly as they did with these two sets, and together on one disc they make for an essential country-punk blowout any alt-country fan should hear. [EMI previously reissued Fervor and Lost & Found on one disc in 1996 under the title Both Sides of the Line, but this new version has been remastered and restores the original artwork for both records.] ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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