Jason & The Scorchers

30th Anniversary Celebration!!!
Tickets: $15 Advance / $18 Day Of Show

Jason and the Scorchers didn’t just fight on the frontlines of the roots-rock revolution of the ’80s — the band all but invented the lethal weapon of cow-punk while still flirting with mainstream success. The group achieved this feat largely on the strength of its live shows, which were a whirling riot of metal guitar, detonating drums and nasal howls.

Jason & the Scorchers were one of the bright lights of the mid-eighties, fusing rock guitars, punk tempos, and country songwriting on albums like “Fervor.” The band’s double-speed take on Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie” confirmed the wisdom of its approach, and the original songs of the lead singer, Jason Ringenberg, demonstrated a dedication to clear-eyed thinking, emotional depth, and sly humor.

But then the Scorchers broke up, and Ringenberg embarked on a solo career, part of which involved refashioning himself as a children’s musician named Farmer Jason.

Now, fourteen years on, Ringenberg and the guitarist Warner E. Hodges have reunited and taken on two new members, the bassist Al Collins and the drummer Pontus Snibb, for “Halcyon Times” (Courageous Chicken). The first sounds on the record are Hodges’s guitar, skittering through the opening of “Moonshine Guy,” a sharply funny character sketch (“And he yells, and he roars / Loves the Stones, hates the Doors / Thinks the Beatles sing for girls / He’s a moonshine guy in a six-pack world”).