CD Review: Warner E. Hodges’ Absolutely (2026)

Warner E. Hodges will forever be known as the flamethrowing guitarist for Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, the rowdiest bunch o’ rockers to make a run out of the Music City. But since the Scorchers called it quits after 2010’s criminally-overlooked Halcyon Times, Hodges has applied his talents to a number of outfits, including veritable Nashville pick-up band the Disciples of Loud, his own Warner E. Hodges Band, the Bluefields, and solo albums he’s released under his own name. At this point in his career, Hodges has released more albums apart from the Scorchers than with that legendary band, but none of them have reached the peaks of Absolutely, the latest entry in the Hodges’ musical canon. 

Warner E. Hodges’ Absolutely

Absolutely was recorded with the crème de la crème of alternative Americana, roots-rock, or whatever you want to call it this week – longtime Hodges’ friends Joe Blanton (Royal Court of China, The Bluefields) and Dan Baird (The Georgia Satellites, The Bluefields), bassist Keith Voegele (The Bottle Rockets), pianist Pete “Wetdawg” Gordon (Mojo Nixon & the Toad Liquors), and drummer Mauro Magellan (The Georgia Satellites, Dan Baird & Homemade Sin). The excellent results speak for themselves. The album’s title track is a swaggering rocker co-written by the street-smart and savvy artistic conglomeration of Baird, Eddie Spaghetti and ‘Metal’ Marty Chandler of the Supersuckers, album producer Blanton and, of course, Mr. Hodges himself. Although I generally frown or dismiss committee-written songs as they, well, as a rule suck, but this is one tasty lil’ sucker that, given the rock ‘n’ roll pedigree of all involved, is guaranteed to raise the roof wherever played. 

Warner E. Hodges

The rock keeps on rolling with the Baird/Blanton/Hodges tune “Get Outta Town,” which features some stellar, razor-sharp Hodges’ fretwork and propulsive rhythms courtesy of Magellan and Voegele. The performance downright threatens to jump out of the grooves to grab you by the throat with just the right amount of musical menace. The rockabilly-tinged “Here Comes My Baby” swings like tire hanging from an oak tree, with Warner’s trembling, Duane Eddy-styled guitar licks juiced up by a jaunty backbeat and walking bass line while “When My Baby’s Blue,” a sort of sequel that amps up the guitar, pumps up the percussion, takes on a lightning bolt of confidence and draws from the energy of the jump blues to deliver a stunning tour de force. Warner’s vocals here really adapt to the song’s needs, which is a sort of metallic cross between hard rock and harder rhythm and blues, with plenty of blazing guitars and cacophonic instrumentation to launch the song into the stratosphere.

The twangin’ ‘n’ bangin’ “Good Company” is hard-edged Americana with just a hint of Scorchers sitting on the fringe, the loping rhythms complimented by a delightfully melodic chorus, harmony vocals hiding in the mix and, naturally, Warner’s incendiary guitarplay, which echoes ‘70s styled Southern rock while incorporating flashes of country stringplay. The album slows down for the first time with the mid-tempo stomp ‘n’ stammer of “North Star,” a bluesy ‘70s-styled hard rocker reminiscent of Texas rocker John Nitzinger, if only for the song’s six-string pyrotechnics, with the fluid solo around four minutes into “North Star” a thing of innate beauty. The serpentine “Carried Away” could have easily slotted into the mid-to-late ‘80s L.A. “hair metal” scene, something that Royal Court of China made a run at, with Warner’s growled, somber vocals thrown up against a semi-metallic soundtrack of dueling, swashbuckling guitars, explosive percussion, and an overall musical chaos grounded and saved from veering towards absurdity by Warner’s occasional twangy vocal lapses. 

Hottest Thing In Town

Warner E. Hodges, guitarslinger

“Individually” brings the band back to Nashville with a country-flavored rocker that choogles along like a cross between Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Scorchers with a touch of booger-rock rhythms, but an effective chorus and Warner stretching out his vocals with a challenging lyrical arrangement. By contrast, the punch-drunk “Happy Wife, Happy Life (Nothin’ Rhymes With Husband),” written by Blanton, but sounding like something Shel Silverstein or John Prine would have penned, is knocked out of the park with Warner’s tongue-in-cheek vocal delivery, which imparts timeless wisdom above rollicking throwback country instrumentation like Gordon’s piano (and accompanying old school honky tonk harmony vocals). At times, Warner’s vocals here sound eerily like his former bandmate Jason Ringenberg, which is to be expected as the two ran the roads together for a couple of decades. 

Warner had a friendly relationship with late outlaw country legend Billy Joe Shaver and his late guitar-slinger son Eddy, so it makes perfect sense to cover “Hottest Thing In Town,” from Shaver’s 1993 album Tramp On Your Street, as a sort of tribute to the pair. Hodges affords the song a raucous, country-rock performance with a red hot guitar solo that surely would make the younger Shaver smile. Magellan’s drums cascade through the speakers like cars piling atop each other in a trainwreck, and the overall dense squalls of instrumentation make for a helluva good time. Absolutely closes out with the slower-paced “Still Got A Ways To Go,” a searing sorta-ballad with emotional vox, bluesy guitars, syncopated percussion, and an overall Allman Brothers/Creedence Clearwater Revival vibe that finishes up the album with a sizzling slow-burner of a performance.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Hodges may be best-known for his genre-bending, forward-thinking performances with his former band, but put aside the onstage gymnastics and the larger-than-life persona and consider the man’s imaginative and creative guitarplay and you’ll find an artist that stands quite tall on his own merits. An overlooked instrumentalist, and a dynamic performer, Hodges’ recordings – none of which have been released in the United States (save for the first, self-produced and limited edition Disciples of Loud CD) – have only found an advocate in Mick Brown and his U.K. based Jerkin’ Crocus (JCPL) label, which is likely why Hodges has found an enthusiastic European audience. Wake up U.S. labels – there’s a market for these guitar-driven roots-rock sounds that eschew autotuned vocals or A.I. generated soundtracks. Absolutely is the stone cold real deal, hand delivered by Warner E. Hodges and a gang of creative collaborators that are musically unimpeachable. (JCPL Records U.K., released February 5th, 2026)

Archive Review: Jason Ringenberg’s Empire Builders (2004)

When “Little” Steven Van Zandt toured Europe during the early ‘80s with his Disciples of Soul band, he saw the sad results of Reagan administration foreign policy. Speaking with the people he met in the towns that he played, Van Zandt became politicized, a philosophical transformation that resulted in a brace of overtly political albums. The culmination of Little Steven’s left-leaning political evolution was the Sun City project, a direct artistic assault on South Afrikan apartheid.

Americana music pioneer Jason Ringenberg comes from quite a different background than the Jersey-born-and-bred Van Zandt. The son of an Illinois hog farmer, Ringenberg is more of an “aw shucks” populist than a tree-hugging leftist, and neither his previous solo work or his tenure as frontman for Jason & the Scorchers reveal little of his politics. While touring Europe and Australia in support of his All Over Creation solo disc, Jason found himself questioned and criticized over American policy and the actions of the current administration. It proved to be embarrassing and frustrating and it opened the artist’s eyes to a radically different perspective than that shown by Fox News.  

Jason Ringenberg’s Empire Builders

The result of Jason Ringenberg’s politicization is Empire Builders, his third solo rock album and strongest effort to date. The songs written for Empire Builders try to make sense of America’s place in a post-911 world and collectively evince a more critical view of the country. There is no flaming rhetoric or paint-by-numbers polemics on Empire Builders, nor is there any flag-waving jingoism. What you will find, however, is a cautious and considered artistic response to current events. The album opens with “American Question,” Jason thoughtfully asking “can we export dignity, respecting those who disagree” over Jim Roll’s taut recurring riff, the song a minimalist response to an American foreign policy of “bomb-em-and-Big-Mac-em.”

Several other songs on Empire Builders also touch on 21st century manifest destiny. “New-Fashioned Imperialist,” a jaunty satire of CEO stereotypes, is sung over the oompa riffing of Dave Jacques’ tuba while “American Reprieve” is a continuation of the opening cut, delivered as the kind of jazzy tone poem that you might expect from an artist like Ed Hammel, not good old Jason. “Rebel Flag In Germany” laughingly criticizes the “Confederate” mindset that is so prevalent in the south, including his adopted home of Tennessee. Jason’s embarrassment over seeing a rebel flag on a barn in Germany is equaled only by his shame at the fact that the flag – a symbol of racism and slavery no matter what the southern heritage Neanderthals claim – still flies on flagpoles and pick-up trucks across the south. 

Ringenberg balances out his social commentary with humanistic tales such as “Tuskegee Pride,” Jason’s love of history resulting in the masterfully crafted story of a World War II African-American pilot. The song remembers the racism that these brave soldiers and their families endured even while fighting for freedom for their children and grandchildren. It is a reminder that we still have a long way to go with the issue of race in this country. “Half the Man” is a loving tribute to his father while a rocking remembrance of guitarist Link Wray pays homage to the criminally overlooked rocker (with a little help from Los Straitjackets axeman Eddie Angel). All the songs on Empire Builders are presented in the twangy folk/rock/country hybrid that has become Jason’s signature sound. Former Webb Wilder sideman and longtime Jason foil George Bradfute lends his considerable six-string skills to most of the songs and Fats Kaplin fills out the sound with some tasty pedal steel guitar.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

After twenty-something years on the old rock ‘n’ roll highway, Jason continues to grow and mature as a performer and a songwriter. Ringenberg doesn’t claim to have all the answers on Empire Builders, but he does ask some mighty damn good questions… (Courageous Chicken/Yep Roc Records, released 2004)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine...

Andy Anderson's Help! There's A Fire - Reflections On Nashville's '80s New Music Scene

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nashville was known as the “home” of country music. Although several significant rock ‘n’ roll albums were recorded in the ‘Music City’ by artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others, the growing metropolis had little or no rock music scene until the early 1980s when bands like David Olney & the X-Rays, Cloverbottom, The Smashers, the White Animals, and Jason & the Nashville Scorchers took the first steps at establishing a foothold for rock music in the Music City.

This fledgling music scene was nurtured, aided, and abetted by the Nashville Intelligence Report. Over the course of a little more than three years from 1982 to 1985, Nashville Intelligence Report zine publisher/editor Andy Anderson and his dedicated crew of rock ‘n’ roll fanatics published 28 issues of the city's first rock music-oriented publication. 

The zine’s intrepid reporters were quite clever in worming their way backstage and grabbing interviews with superstars-in-waiting like R.E.M., the Police, the English Beat, Katrina & the Waves, and the Bangles, talking with many of them early in their careers. They also spoke with established artists like Johnny Ramone, Iggy Pop, and Joe Strummer along with lesser-known, but no-less-influential bands like Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, and Minor Threat.

Help! There’s A Fire offers a selection of  some of the best writing from the Nashville Intelligence Report as curated by Anderson and N.I.R. contributer Rev. Keith A. Gordon. The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is representative of the quality and diversity of content published by N.I.R. during its tenure, capturing the magic of the music being made at the dawn of the Nashville rock scene.

"The Nashville Intelligence Report always will hold a special place in my heart. The influence of the NIR on the nascent Nashville rock scene of the early 1980s cannot be overestimated. The NIR gave coverage to a wide array of bands that no one else was even aware of. Andy Anderson had his hand on the pulse of the exploding Southeastern music scene, and helped it along immeasurably. It gave us crazy left field rockers some self validation when we needed it most. On top of all that, the writing was excellent. Indeed it was world class, all done on a shoestring budget. I read it cover to cover every time it came out." – Jason Ringenberg, Jason & the Nashville Scorchers

Help! There's A Fire is a 224pp 7.5” x 9.25” paperback with B&W photos and is available in paperback at $16.99 with shipping. An eBook is available for $3.99 from Amazon [eBook link].

Get your copy through the Amazon.com link below or buy copies direct from Excitable Press:

Help! There's A Fire (Reflections on Nashville’s ‘80s New Music Scene...) [Amazon link]

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The View On Pop Culture: William Topley, Bad Religion, Jason & the Scorchers, Tron DVD (2002)

V2.24

William Topley doesn’t receive much radio airplay, nor are gallons of ink spread on paper to champion the British artist’s music. Topley may not be a household name, but while better-known, lesser talents are dominating the charts, Topley quietly makes intelligent, beautiful music. Feasting With Panthers (Lost Highway) is Topley’s fourth album and one that finds the artist experimenting with differing musical forms and styles. Long-time fans have nothing to fear – Feasting With Panthers still contains plenty of the Tennessee Williams-steeped, Southern-fried blue-eyed soul that Topley is best known for. For these songs, though, Topley has expanded his artistic pallet, adding elements of island rhythms to songs like the reggae-tinged “Excuses” or the Cuban-inflected “La Habana.” The band is a top-notch group of professionals and Topley’s deep, passionate vocals caress his lyrics like a lover’s kiss. The best current artist that you’ve never heard, Feasting With Panthers is a great place for a newcomer to discover Topley’s music.

For over two decades now, Bad Religion has helped define the direction of punk rock. Although they may not have the sales of, say, Green Day or Blink 182, or even the hip cache of Rancid, Bad Religion’s influence on the genre is undeniable, and every album released by the band leaves its mark across the entire spectrum of punk rock. The Process of Belief (Epitaph Records) is no exception. The Process of Belief represents not only a reunion of Epitaph label owner and guitarist Brett Gurewitz with the band he left in 1994, but also a return to the ranks of the indie music world that Bad Religion played a major part in creating. The CD certainly won’t disappoint even the most hardcore punk enthusiast, jumping from 0 to 100 mph in seconds with the opening track, “Supersonic.”

From this point, it’s sheer sonic thrills and chills as Bad Religion runs through fourteen fast-and-furious tracks. “Bored & Extremely Dangerous” is a delightful take on alienation while “Kyoto Now!” assails the current administration’s environmental policy. Bad Religion might wear their social consciousness on their collective sleeves, but no other rock ‘n’ roll band brings as much intelligence and erudition to its material, and no vocalist other than Greg Graffin could cram so many syllables into a verse. With The Process of Belief, Bad Religion extends their legacy and raises the bar for other punk bands to follow.

Cowpunk pioneers Jason & the Scorchers enjoy a lofty standing within the indie rock ranks. They’ve received a minor degree of fame, with a series of critically acclaimed albums and hundreds of dynamic live shows beneath their belts. They made the jump from their own indie label to a major label back when a band’s credibility wasn’t instantly in question, later going bankrupt due to excessive label expenses. After a brief early ‘90s hiatus, the Scorchers returned to the indie world with a handful of brilliant, if underrated albums for Mammoth Records. Now they’ve come full-circle, releasing music on their own Courageous Chicken imprint through North Carolina indie Yep Roc Records. For these Nashville rock icons, it’s been a long strange trip, indeed.

This trip is partially documented by the recently released Wildfires + Misfires (Yep Roc). The disc is a collection of Scorchers’ obscurities, demos and alternative versions that provides listeners with greater insight into the band’s creative process. It documents the Scorchers’ evolution from brash young punks into one of rock’s most talented, if overlooked bands. The set kicks off with the demo version of “Absolutely Sweet Marie” that won the band a major label contract and also includes red-hot unreleased live tracks like “Tear It Up” with legendary guitarist Link Wray and crowd favorite “Lost Highway.” Rarities like “Too Much Too Young” and “Break Open The Sky” present the band in a different light while alternative takes of familiar songs like “If Money Talks” showcase the Scorchers’ range and abilities. Rather than a prurient look at a band’s past, Wildfires + Misfires is a vital collection of material that rewards loyal fans for their incredible dedication while presenting a living document of a work still in progress.    

Back in the early 1980s, Disney was desperately trying to remain relevant in the face of increased competition. The studio hadn’t broken new artistic ground in a decade and was in danger of becoming a minor league player in the entertainment world. They rolled the dice on director Steve Lisberger’s pet project, and the film Tron (Disney DVD) was created. Although this radical, computer-assisted film was a relative disappointment at the box office, barely breaking even, it would prove to be an incredibly influential work of art. Watching Tron again on DVD, twenty years after its initial release, is a revelation. True, many of the effects look dated in the face of more recent computer-effects breakthroughs like The Matrix, but Lisberger and crew were there first, blazing the trail for others to follow.

A typical tale of good vs. evil, hacker/programmer Flynn (Jeff Bridges) finds himself trapped inside of what we now call cyberspace by nasty corporate CEO (David Warner) and a rogue software program. With the help of a defensive program named “Tron” (played with steadfast Dudley Doright bravery by Bruce Boxleitner), Flynn successfully competes on the “game grid” and defeats the dictatorial “Master Control” software. The effects are breathtaking, especially the computer-generated lightcycles, and the geometric design of the computer world is mind-boggling. The collector’s edition DVD includes an informative “making of” feature with interviews, storyboards and more information than you could ever want. Tron is an important movie milestone and well worth checking out for anybody interested in either science fiction or computer animation. (View From The Hill, April 2002)

Anarchy In The Music City! The Other Side of Nashville's Musical Pioneers

Since the early 1960s, Nashville has been known worldwide as the "Music City" for its robust country and gospel music industries. For over 40 years now, Nashville has also been home to a thriving hotbed of rock, blues, rap, and Americana music. "The Other Side of Nashville" has grown from a few makeshift bands playing original songs and scraping for gigs into an internationally-respected scene that has attracted creative immigrants from across the globe.

Anarchy In The Music City! is an oral history of the origins and evolution of Nashville's alternative music scene as told by the pioneers that made the music. Using artist interviews culled from the pages of Rev. Keith A. Gordon's critically-acclaimed book The Other Side of Nashville, this illustrated volume includes conversations with both well-known music-makers like Jason & the Scorchers, Webb Wilder, Tony Gerber, David Olney, and Chagall Guevara as well as regional cult rockers like Tommy Womack, the Dusters, Donna Frost, and Aashid Himons, among many others.  

The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Gordon has been writing about rock and blues music for 50 years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has written or edited 25 previous music-related books and eBooks, including Blues Deluxe: The Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide, Planet of Sound, The Other Side of Nashville, and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook. 

Buy an autographed copy for $14.99 directly from the Reverend:

 

Prefer to buy from Amazon.com? Here's a link to the print version of Anarchy In The Music City! (also available as a Kindle eBook) 

CD Review: Jason Ringenberg's Rhinestoned (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 between these efforts, Ringenberg pursued a third distinct career as “Farmer Jason,” recording goofy yet deceptively sly albums for kid (and their parents). He took some time off after 2004’s Empire Builders, reunited with the Scorchers for 2010’s landmark Halcyon Times album, and then returned to his family and life in Tennessee.   

Jason Ringenberg’s Rhinestoned

The offer of an “artist in residency” program at Sequoia National Park in California proved to be too alluring to pass by, however, and with newfound clarity and purpose (and a bunch of new songs), Ringenberg came roaring back with 2019’s incredible Stand Tall album. The Roots of Stand Tall appeared last year, the album a sort of “making of” trip and, when 2020 rolled around, Ringenberg had songs left over that didn’t quite fit onto Stand Tall. In a press release for his new album, Jason states “these weren’t enough to make another record, nor did I have the fire to embark on another recording project.” When the Covid lockdown started, though, Jason says that “songs began to pour out. I felt increasingly excited and driven to record again. I put a guitar and recorder by my bed. I was ready to jump on any idea like a Revolutionary War Minuteman waiting to be called by Paul Revere.”

The result is Ringenberg’s finest solo album to date, Rhinestoned. The man himself says “the songs rolled out rather heavy. I reckon that was to be expected, with a world grappling with a pandemic and the United States embroiled in racial strife.” A historian in his own lyrical manner, Jason easily ties together events from yesteryear with contemporary themes to create a strong song cycle that has one foot in the past and an eye towards the future. Rhinestoned kicks off with the Dylanesque “Before Love and War,” a poetic rocker that shines with producer/guitarist George Bradfute’s shimmering fretwork, Fats Kaplin’s sweeping steel guitar, and emotionally-charged vocals. Ringenberg’s “The Freedom Rides Weren’t Free” is another up-tempo rocker with brilliant, timely lyrics that reflect the “Black Lives Matter” protests while speaking of the sacrifices of the Freedom Riders, who fought for civil rights in the early ‘60s. Jason delivers a powerful vocal performance for a song into which he invests a lot of heart and soul.

Nashville Without Rhinestones

Ringenberg has lived in the Nashville area for better than 40 years, and dabbled in the country music field, so he knows what he speaks of in “Nashville Without Rhinestones,” a folk-styled song with lyrics spoken, rather than sung against a rolling instrumental backdrop. Jason bemoans the loss of the “old” Nashville not in the manner of some aging crank, but rather as a traditionalist who isn’t so much criticizing the city’s progress as much as mourning what it’s leaving behind. “Out on the horizon, I see a sinking ship,” he sings, “filled with hillbilly ghosts on their final trip,” nodding to the Music City’s rich cultural heritage by playing “an old LP” from 1963, 1953, 1943, etc., throughout the lengthy history of country & western music. Jason pays further tribute to the “Old Nashville” with a charming cover of the Carter Family’s country classic “The Storms Are On the Ocean.” A duet with the incredibly-talented Kristi Rose, their two voices recreate pure magic in the grooves.  
 
Only Ringenberg could take an antiquated hymn like “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” and turn it into a rock song, but with a little vocal assistance from two of his daughters (Addie and Camille), and soaring Bradfute guitarplay, the song manages to be both reverent and joyfully rowdy. Ringenberg’s “I Rode with Crazy Horse” is one of the album’s most interesting songs, with its germination in a dream. Says Jason, “I woke up and immediately hummed the words and melody into my phone recorder. I am enormously proud of that song.” A rollicking story-song, Ringenberg states that its “story is loosely based on an old Lakota/Oglala legend that one of Crazy Horse’s cousins rode and fought beside him through every battle, even to his death at Fort Robinson.” Riding a timeworn C&W beat like a galloping horse, the story unfolds into a fascinating tale accompanied by Bradfute’s ringing guitars and a locomotive rhythms courtesy of drummer Steve Ebe’s relentless percussion.  

Stoned On Rhinestones

The semi-autobiographical “My Highway Songs” is the perfect antidote to today’s insipid “pop country” music with Ringenberg’s high-lonesome vocals sitting atop a twangy yet lush instrumental soundtrack, the self-reflective lyrics of an aging rocker wondering if “there’s a place in the world for my highway songs?” The music is simply gorgeous, with Kaplin’s weeping pedal steel standing out, and the song itself is worthy of a tradition built by Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. Speaking of which, Jason’s cover of ol’ Hank’s “You Win Again” is a beautiful contemporary take on the honky-tonk gem, Ringenberg imbuing the song with plenty of pathos and heartache while the band choogles on behind him. A cover of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ song “Time Warp” (from 1975’s The Car Over the Lake album) is a swinging nod to country music’s influence on 1970s-era Southern rock.

With “Stoned On Rhinestones,” Ringenberg takes a sly look at the allure of country music stardom, his humorous lyrics bouncing off a rockin’ hillbilly musical backdrop to cleverly (and honestly) describe both the ups and the downs of a life on stage. The grand romantic ambitions of “Keep That Promise” could easily have been a Jason & Scorchers tune, with guitarist Warner Hodges shooting off sparks while Jason sings of star-crossed lovers. As it is, Bradfute and company do a fine job raising the roof, providing stinging fretwork and a dense rhythmic canvas for Jason to paint on. Rhinestoned closes with “Window Town,” another poetic lyrical turn that obliquely speaks of the difficulty of personal relationships in the modern world. The soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful, masterfully blending country and rock with filigree guitar and pedal steel (and Kristi Rose’s harmony vocals) playing off a solid rhythmic foundation.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Jason says it better than I ever could, stating that “taken all together, this is a record populated by old souls and ghosts – both people and places. The main song cycle of Rhinestoned examines my relationship with a changing Nashville and its role in country music.” Although many of the album’s songs look backwards, they’re also contemplative of the future in a time of doubt and apprehension. Recorded during the Covid era with the attendant social distancing, and ably assisted by guitarist and producer George Bradfute, in whose Tone Chaparral studio the album was recorded, Ringenberg and his collaborators nevertheless managed to crank out a timeless and enduring collection of spirited country-rock music that is both uplifting and entertaining…and who could ask for better in these trying days and times? (Courageous Chicken Records, released March 5th, 2021)

Jason Ringenberg 2021 photo above by Scott Willis

Buy the CD direct from the artist: Jason Ringenberg’s Rhinestoned

The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers

Excitable Press and Rev. Gordon are happy to announce the publication of the first book in what will be an ongoing series of material from the good Reverend’s files. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers is a budget-priced collection of ten artist interviews with the ‘90s generation of Southern rockers like Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites), the Cactus Brothers, Warren Haynes, Brent Best (Slobberbone), Kevn Kinney (Drivin’ ‘n’ Cryin’), Widespread Panic, the Kentucky Headhunters, Webb Wilder, and Jason Ringenberg and Warner Hodges as well as old school influence Charlie Daniels.

The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about music for 45+ years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has written or edited nine previous music-related books, including The Other Side of Nashville and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers is a 54pp 5.5” x 8.5” paperback  with B&W photos, priced at $5.99 retail with a $2.99 eBook version available with the same interviews. Get your copy through the handy Amazon links below:

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers eBook

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers print version

Scorched Earth: Jason & The Scorchers Scrapbook

Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook was a true labor of love for writer Rev. Keith A. Gordon and photographer/graphic designer Paul Needham, both longtime fans of the band. The 92 page trade paperback (7.5" x 9.25") features a truly electric cover photo by Tony Mottram and over three dozen B&W interior photos, including many rare, unpublished live shots from Needham's private stash. Needham's dynamic graphic design is befitting the band's high-voltage live performance style. 

The words in Scorched Earth are by Rev. Gordon, who has been covering Jason & the Nashville Scorchers since the very beginning, the scrapbook offering up interviews with Jason Ringenberg, Warner Hodges, and manager Jack Emerson from across the band's lengthy career (1984 through 2010) as well as an illustrated discography and reviews of all the band's albums, including releases from Farmer Jason and the Bluefields.

Scorched Earth was created for the dedicated Scorchers fan and includes editorial content from Gordon's The Other Side of Nashville book alongside long out-of-print material from several obscure publications. The book can be ordered for $12.00 postpaid in the United States (no overseas or Canadian purchase available...sorry).

To order the United States, use this link ($12.00 postpaid):