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Synopsis
Amazon.comAnyone looking for some genuine country-rock should turn to A Blazing Grace by the reunited Jason and the Scorchers. This Nashville band spearheaded the "cow-punk" movement in the early '80s by combining songs about harvest moons, whiskey glasses, and mamas back home with twangy vocals, hyper tempos, and buzzing guitars. Ironically, the band broke up in '89 just after releasing its best album yet, Thunder and Fire. The quartet's new album picks up where "Thunder and Fire" left off. As on that '89 effort, Ringenberg cowrote several songs with Nashville's finest (Mike Henderson, Wayland Patton, Richard Fagan, and Todd Cerney this time out) and then attacked the results as if he were leading the Ramones at the Grand Ole Opry. This combination of painstaking songcraft and anything-goes performance pays off in a terrific album that marries the timeless themes of country to the immediate urgency of rock & roll. Like the church-going farm boy he once was, Ringenberg prays for "One More Day of Weekend" to escape the day-job grind and for protection from the violence and greed spilling out of "Hell's Gates," but he does so with a raucous shout over pushing, pounding drums and loud guitars. He slows down for "Where Bridges Never Burn," a quiet, mostly acoustic honky-tonk ballad about the impermanence of love. He revs up again for "Cry by Night Operator," a song about working two jobs--a daytime one as a commodity broker and a nighttime one as a saloon habitue "trying to drink her off my mind." It's a familiar scenario, but seldom has it enjoyed such funny lines or such super-fast, nonstop energy. --Geoffrey Himes
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CD Reviews
More Rock than Honky Tonk Joe | TExAS | 01/21/2005 (5 out of 5 stars) "Jason and the Scorchers were without a doubt, one of the greatest live bands ever. I had the great pleasure of seeing them at least five times during the 1980s. They gave you everything. I fell in love with that rockin' honky tonk sound they had on their first albums. Well, as time passed and the band lost some key members (Maynard), the band started to take on a different sound, one that emphasized the hard rockin' sound more. It is not as great as their early Nashville sound, but what is? This album still rocks and is worthy of a perfect score. Of course, I am biased, I still believe this is one of the greatest band ever."
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