Jason Ringenberg is an American musician, and lead singer of Jason & the Scorchers

Jason & the Scorchers

Jason & the Scorchers, originally Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, are a Cowpunk / Country rock band formed in 1981 and led by singer/songwriter Jason Ringenberg....

. He is also a songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

.

The band had several minor hits, including "Golden Ball and Chain" and a blistering rock version of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

Ringenberg was especially influential in the mid-1980s when the indie country/rock fusion movement was at its height. His music, and that of similar bands, served as the roots for the "alt country" genre that would arise in the 1990s.

Biography

Born November 22, 1958, Jason came from a place lost in time, a small hog farm near Sheffield, Illinois. The Ringenberg farm bordered the Rock Island Line railroad track. The farm was built by his grandpa Emmerson, and until the current generation, all of Jason’s relatives farmed in Bureau County. His maternal great-grandfather, Peter VanDeKeere,s was known as “The King of the Belgians” because he would help the Belgian immigrants get started in the Sheffield area by giving them food, a place to stay, or a job on his farm. His father’s Ringenberg ancestors were German Mennonites, a sect related to the Amish. Jason enjoyed a very idyllic, if hard working, childhood on the farm.

After touring solo, he reunited with the Scorchers in 2010 and together they released a new studio album titled "Halycon Times."

In 2002 Jason released an album of duets named All Over Creation featuring Steve Earle

Steve Earle

Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....

, Lambchop

Lambchop (band)

Lambchop, originally Posterchild, is a band from Nashville, Tennessee. Lambchop is loosely associated with the alternative country genre...

, The Wildhearts

The Wildhearts

The Wildhearts are a British rock group originally formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as The Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica...

 and more.

His most recent solos album, Empire Builders was released in 2004.

He featured on the album Greetings From Cairo, Illinois

Greetings From Cairo, Illinois

Greetings From Cairo, Illinois is a 2005 concept album and historical album by Stace England with songs referencing the history of Cairo, Illinois from 1858 to 2005. The project encompassed five years of research and two years of writing and recording the music.The songs concern people, places and...

by Stace England

Stace England

Stace England is a musician from Cobden, Illinois, United States. He has released several solo recordings including Salt Sex Slaves documenting the Old Slave House near Equality, Illinois, and Greetings From Cairo, Illinois documenting the history of that city...

 in 2005.

Farmer Jason

These days, when not Scorching, he is head-over-heels involved in his children’s music character, Farmer Jason. He won an Emmy for the “It’s a Farmer Jason!” video program running on PBS stations around the country. The past 10 years he has done close to 2,000 shows as Farmer Jason and Jason Ringenberg solo, touring extensively in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Personal Life

Jason now lives near Bon Aqua, Tennessee, with his wife Suzy; daughters Kelsey, Addie, and Camille; and a barnyard full of animals.

Jason & The Scorchers

• Reckless Country Soul (Praxis, 1982). EP
  Extended play
  An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
  
  
• Fervor (Praxis, 1983), rereleased in 1984 for EMI
  EMI
  The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
  
  .
• Lost & Found (EMI, 1986).
• Still Standing (EMI, 1986).
• Thunder and Fire (A&M, 1989).
• Are You Ready For The Country: The Essential Jason & The Scorchers. Volume One (EMI, 1992)
• A Blazing Grace (Mammoth, 1995).
• Clear Impetuous Morning (Mammoth, 1996).
• Both Sides of The Line (EMI, 1996)
• Midnight Roads and Stages Seen (Mammoth, 1998)
• Rock on Germany (Coragenous Chicken Music, 2001)
• Wildfires & Misfires: Two Decades of Outakes and Rarities (Coragenous Chicken, 2002).
• Halycon TImes (Coragenous Chicken, 2002).

Solo

• One Foot in The Honky Tonk (Liberty, 1992)
• A Pocketful of Soul
• All Over Creation (2002)
• Empire Builders (2004)

As Farmer Jason

• A Day at the Farm With Farmer Jason
• Rockin' In The Forest With Farmer Jason

External links

• Jason Ringenberg & Farmer Jason official site