Jason and The Scorchers: Fervor & Still Standing

Tuna Melt goes CowPunk!

One of these discs was posted at The Tuna Melt last year, but now is your chance to get it if you didn't then. In case you're not familiar with CowPunk, these guys are a great place to start. This is how that happened...

This fella, who grew up on a Pig Farm in Illinois, moves to Nashville with dreams of being a Music Star. But not a Nashville Music Star. He's kinda into a more Punk Rock frame of mind. At the same time, though, he's from a Pig Farm in Illinois, so his song's lyrics are a bit more, well... Country. Somehow he bumped into the most incredible bunch of young musicians in the Music City. The band that they formed was too good for words.

Too good for American Radio too, I suppose, as Country Radio refused to play them because they were too Rock and Rock Radio refused them because, of course, they were too Country. As a result, after releasing four appropriately Scorching albums, they disbanded in 1989. After that, of course, thier history gets complicated.

Jason and the Nashville Scorchers were the closest that Cowpunk ever got to Real Punk. Although the songs are tuneful and melodic beyond what most punk ever dreamed of, and they could also play the quiet stuff as good as The Flying Burritos or The Byrds, the energy and drive they pushed into each tune put them into a class that includes the fastest, loudest bands of all time.

This is their first nationwide American release, a 7-song Mini Album that came out in 1983.

Jason and The Scorchers: Fervor

1. Absolutely Sweet Marie
2. Help There's a Fire
3. I Can't Help Myself
4. Hot Nights in Georgia
5. Pray for Me, Mama (I'm a Gypsy Now)
6. Harvest Moon
7. Both Sides of the Line

And this is their third album, from 1986.

Jason and The Scorchers: Still Standing

1. Golden Ball and Chain
2. Crashin' Down
3. Shotgun Blues
4. Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
5. My Heart Still Stands with You
6. 19th Nervous Breakdown
7. Ocean of Doubt
8. Ghost Town
9. Take Me to Your Promised Land