“The Godfather of Americana”
— Mojo
Jason Ringenberg was born and raised on an Illinois hog farm that bordered the Rock Island Line Railroad. He left for Nashville on July 4, 1981, to pursue his dream of “making a band that could kick American roots music into the modern age!” Little did he know just how far the kick would travel. He immediately formed Jason and the Scorchers and never looked back. Throughout the 1980s and 90s they tore up venues across the planet and became known as one of the most exciting live bands in music. On classic LPs like Fervor and Lost and Found they “single-handedly rewrote the history of rock ‘n roll in the South” (Rolling Stone). Their instinctive ability to combine traditional country music with high-energy punk rock has not been surpassed to this day. In 2008 they were awarded the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance. The band has an exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
But Ringenberg’s story does not stop there. In 1992 the “Godfather of Americana” (Mojo) decided to go solo. He has released seven records, with everyone from the BBC to USA TODAY lauding his songwriting. Touring the world relentlessly as a solo barnstormer, The Times (UK) called him “one of the most exciting performers of his generation.” In 2002 he created a children’s music character called Farmer Jason, winning an Emmy Award for his PBS program.
In 2017 the U.S. National Park Service invited him to be their Artist-in-Residence at Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park. He spent a month hiking the mountains and writing songs. That explosion of creativity yielded two career-defining records: Stand Tall in 2018 and now his newest release, Rhinestoned.
So don’t go to his concerts expecting to see a sensitive singer-songwriter sitting on a stool. With his acoustic guitar and high-energy charisma, he WILL rock the house!
“He’s an expert at going straight to our hearts with a lyric wrapped in a tune so danceable that the words linger long after the song’s finished.”
— No Depression
“Rhinestoned is a worthy testament to both his creativity and conviction.”
— Goldmine
Jason's regular YouTube series. Tune in on the first Friday of the month for more music and tall tales...
Apr 12 2021
You can't keep a good man down and Jason Ringenberg is one of the best of them. Boosted by the reception and satisfaction of his 2018 album STAND TALL, everybody's favourite cowpunk, witty, incisive, intelligent lyricist is back with another…
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Apr 12 2021
Rhinestoned by Jason Ringenberg: There’s enough hillbilly in Ringenberg’s singing and enough Appalachia in his rock ’n’ roll to make the wide-ranging subjects of his recent forays into homage-paying seem radical in the most literal sense. Last time it was…
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Apr 9 2021
Hailed as ‘The Godfather of Americana’, US roots rock musician Jason Ringenberg recently issued new solo LP ‘Rhinestoned’ to outstanding praise. Julie Cruickshank caught up with the alt. country pioneer to chat about the making of the album and formative…
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Apr 9 2021
Words of wisdom delivered through a crooked smile.
Alt-country godfather Jason Ringenberg is back with yet another hell-raising record, his latest offering ‘Rhinestoned’ shares the same thread as his previous output, it’s unapologetically unique. The songs range from thought-provoking commentary…
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Apr 9 2021
Apr 9 2021
Apr 9 2021
One of the Godfathers of Americana, Jason Ringenberg had planned to take a step away from recording after his last album, Stand Tall, despite having some songs leftover. However, during 2020 other songs quickly flowed out resulting in Rhinestoned. Overall…
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Apr 9 2021
Forty years on from launching Jason and the Scorchers, the Illinois-born Southern-twanged cowpunk singer is as fired up as ever on Rhinestoned, his 21st release and seventh as a solo artist, partly comprising songs that didn’t make the Stand Tall…
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Apr 9 2021
Rhinestoned – Robust twanging songs
There is something reassuring in Jason Ringenberg’s continued dedication to the values that lit his fuse some 40 years ago. Then in the role of singer with Jason & the Scorchers, Ringenberg was in the…
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Apr 7 2021
Apr 3 2021
Apr 2 2021
Mar 29 2021
Jason Ringenberg has just released Rhinestoned, an album forged out of the pandemic, an incredibly eclectic collection of songs that range from straight-ahead Nashville gems to an Easter hymn from the 19th century.
“Music is one of just four basic…
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Mar 29 2021
De 62-jarige Amerikaanse gitarist en singer-songwriter Jason Ringenberg werd in de buurt van Sheffield, Illinois geboren maar werd als muzikant pas bekend toen hij in 1981 naar Nashville, Tennessee verhuisde en er de countryrockgroep ‘Jason And The Scorchers’ oprichtte met…
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Mar 29 2021
Het is een ongeschreven regel binnen de country muziek dat niet iedereen zich zomaar een hillbilly mag noemen. Vroeger had je artiesten zoals Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams en later Waylon Jennings en Willie Nelson die de naam hillbilly met trots…
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Mar 29 2021
Jason Ringenberg kennen we vooral als frontman van Jason and The Scorchers, de alternatieve Countryband die al sinds de jaren ’80 platen uitbrengt. Toch heeft Ringenberg ook een respectabele solocarrière opgebouwd en na Stand Tall dat hij in 2019 uitbracht…
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Mar 29 2021
As frontman of Jason & the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg, along with bands like The Blasters, Lone Justice and Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ helped pioneer that potent blend of punk rock and country. As a result, they laid the foundation for everyone…
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Mar 29 2021
Often referred to as a ‘godfather of Americana’, Nashville’s Jason Ringenberg has had a long and successful career mixing country with rock since the early ‘80s as frontman of the legendary Jason & The Scorchers, as a solo artist and…
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Mar 29 2021
Jason & the Scorchers frontman Jason Ringenberg is a pioneering Americana legend who has also enjoyed a critically-acclaimed and modestly-successful solo career that kicked off with 2000’s A Pocketful of Soul, which was followed by 2002’s All Over Creation. In…
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Mar 14 2021
As with intricate artwork, Jason Ringenberg’s new album, “Rhinestoned,” can be appreciated the deeper it is inspected. The diamonds aren’t real but everything else is brilliant and true.
A month spent in the…
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Mar 14 2021
In one sense you could say that Jason Ringenberg has always honored the past. The legendary rocker and former frontman for the seminal Americana band Jason and The…
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Mar 14 2021
He might be the product of a farming family from rural Illinois, who passed through Carbondale for a few years on his way to Nashville, but Jason Ringenberg has proved himself a true Country hillbilly.
The message twangs…
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Mar 14 2021
Rhinestoned is Jason Ringenberg riding a rollercoaster record. The first half of Rhinestoned is climbing up the first hill, the coaster coasting at a medium pace where you can enjoy ascending as you dig on the scenery. When the coaster…
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Mar 11 2021
If anything positive can be said about the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that lockdown restrictions forced many musicians away from touring and into their sheds and back bedrooms to write and produce new music. One such example is Illinois-born and…
Read moreThe Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has just opened a brand new exhibit of Jason and the Scorchers. It is in the timeline section called Cadillacs, Guitars - Country Music’s New Wave. Jason and the Scorchers share the section with Randy Travis, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakum, and Roseanne Cash. The exhibit includes the outfit Jason wore in the 1985 video for White Lies which you can also watch, a rare 1982 poster from one of their very first shows, a pair of Warner’s spurs, info about the band’s influence on country music fans and musicians.
Jason with exhibit curator Peter Cooper
Jason with his daughters Camille and Addie
