Jason and The Scorchers - Fervor/ Lost and Found Reviews

Jason & The Scorchers - Fervor/ Lost & Found [2/26]

It wasn't always that punkers worshipped Johnny Cash. Perhaps more than anyone--excepting Joe Strummer--Jason & the Scorchers made it okay to do just that. They were the early-'80s economically depressed heartland answer to Gram Parson's California country-rock: a decidedly blue-collar quartet that could play a honky-tonk song with the gob-hurling fury of punk rock just as easily as a country ballad. This fantastic reissue captures their first two full-lengths, FERVOR and LOST & FOUND, in one place. With production by legendary Memphis producer Terry Manning that highlights their fevered energy and guitar grit, FERVOR and LOST & FOUND hold up remarkably well, and in retrospect obviously provided the sonic and conceptual blueprint for the alt. country explosion as spearheaded by the Jayhawks and Uncle Tupelo. Unlike those bands, Jason Ringenberg and Co. understood both the playfulness and the directness of country and never shied away from a whiskey-drenched sense of sin and humor in their lyrics. Each record contains a classic cover: their--um--scorching cover of Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and their heartfelt take on the Hank Williams standard "Lost Highway. "