A Scorcher mellows out

Isn't it interesting the way former members of loud rock bands eventually admit that the noise was just a bit too much for them? That what they really wanted to do all those years ago was to trade an electric guitar for an acoustic one, to sing instead of scream, to have calm in their lives instead of chaos? Perhaps it's an age thing, but aggression and anger always seem to give way to a more mature, reflective nature; a state of mind that has more things to worry about than how to stick it to the neighbour, the colleague or the government.

Jason Ringenberg formed Jason & The Scorchers some 20 years ago. For those whose record collections go that far back, the mixture of punk rock and Hank Williams was truly a heady experience. A confluence of the old and the relatively new, Jason & The Scorchers blazed a trail across a parched prairie, giving Nashville the finger, America the fist and the rest of the world a handshake. Twenty years on, Jason Ringenberg talks to The Irish Times from his farm in Dickson, Tennessee and is a considered, slow talker. The burbling echoing sound I initially mistake for trans-Atlantic phone line interference turns out to be Camille Ringenberg, Jason's 10-month-old daughter, who is nestling in his arms as he speaks. It is an image that vividly illustrates how Ringenberg has changed over the years.

In the early days, he recalls, Jason & The Scorchers were a response to the sterility of country music. "That's not the sole reason we formed, but it definitely fed the energy the band had at the time. In those days, to walk on stage and do a Hank Williams song, let alone a Hank Williams song energised out like we did was really radical. The Hank Williams Snr and Merle Haggard vision of country music was essentially dead. It was so out of people's consciousness - a band coming up and attacking country music with so much energy. We fed on that and loved it. We caused a lot of waves in Nashville, of that there is no doubt. I've been told by other bands that we took the arrows for what we did. We appreciated that, even if they didn't give us a point or two from their record sales! There was us and a few others who started a whole alternative scene. At that point, no one thought of making music separate from the machine, the establishment. We showed it could be done and done successfully, and that inspired people.

"I've never had a hit, never sold a lot of records either solo or with the band," claims Ringenberg, with some pride in his voice. "But I know that there is a certain amount of people all over the world who really appreciate what we've done and will always be there for us. They may not love everything we do, or what I do. But they'll always listen with some respect. Frankly, I'd rather have that than to have had a hit way back yonder and to have come and gone. I'd rather have what I have, although that kind of success always creates economic challenges."

Which brings us to Ringenberg's latest album, a solo offering called Pocketful Of Soul. Released on his own label, Courageous Chicken, Jason's diplomatically termed "economic challenges" appear to have led to his decision to bypass even the minor major labels. The album evolved at a time when, music business travails behind him, he was writing songs for fun, for his family; the song that eventually came to be the album's title track was written as a birthday present for his wife. Another track was written for his older daughter. Gradually, says Jason, it grew into an album that, from back to front, comprises a down-home, homespun collection of songs. Its relative success has taken him by surprise.

"I really only expected a tiny minority to like it, perhaps a small bunch of Jason & The Scorchers fans. I'm quite surprised that a whole lot of Scorchers fans like it, as well as a whole new group of people who have never even heard of that band. As for the rock 'n roll contingent of people who would know me through Scorchers material, funnily enough I'm seeing way more of them than I expected. Some people underestimate, with Jason & The Scorchers, how important songs were to our fans and to our music. It was a high energy rock 'n' roll experience, but behind that were songs, good songs I hope. I think that's what drew people to our band, way more than we thought. Now that I've come out with a songwriter record the connection is much easier to make than I had thought it would be. When I play live, I do all kinds of old Scorchers songs, and it all fits together. It's not as different on the surface as it would appear.

"With the Scorchers, we were a rock band on stage with a great heritage and history and I was the frontman. That's pretty easy, because you manoeuvre the energy and songs with the audience. Solo, you have to concentrate for every single moment - there's nowhere to hide in a solo context, so you have to learn to be funny, to be engaging. You can't be the mythical artist up there. You have to involve people. You have to emphasise your strong points, which include my songs and energy, and minimise your weak points - I'm not a great guitar player, for instance."

The change from firing on all cylinders to cruising gently has inevitably made Ringenberg's songs less frenetic. If he has one criticism of Jason & The Scorchers, it would be that the band's incredibly high energy occasionally clouded the message of the song. He denies that Pocketful Of Soul is a conscious reaction to his critique of his own band, but nevertheless this is the kind of record that really makes you think it might be.

NOW touring as a solo artist, Ringenberg pays less attention to rock music these days, not because he does not like it, he says, but because he is so busy. "When I do listen to music, I stick with what I know," he explains. "I've just done a tour of Kentucky, and all I did was listen to Gillian Welch and a Bill Monroe box set. I like listening to the old stuff, because that's what works. New stuff has to hit me over the head before I get too excited." So what is next for the man who turned Bob Dylan's Absolutely Sweet Marie from a folk/rock ditty into a country rock tune to kick in television sets to? Jason will not sign anyone else to his record label just yet - "Too risky. I'd have to really love something; if I put out a record that I loved but that nobody bought it could ruin me" - but he has recently released a Jason & The Scorchers bootleg. A 20-year anniversary tour for the band, meanwhile, looks like it will take place from this autumn.

A new studio album? "I wouldn't count on it, if I were you." Will there be a follow up to Pocketful Of Soul? "Absolutely." As if on cue, baby Camille screams. "It looks like she's bitten the leg of the chair," says Ringenberg who, like any other cowpunk father worth his salt, makes his excuses and politely hangs up.

Jason Ringenberg plays Cleeres, Kilkenny, on Saturday, May 5th (4pm), and The Widows, Kilkenny, Sunday May 6th (1pm), as part of the Carlsberg Kilkenny Rhythm 'n'Roots Weekend. His latest album, Pocketful Of Soul (Independent/Courageous Chicken), is currently on release.