Jason & the Scorchers Benefit Show for Perry Baggs

Legendary Nashville Rockers Reunite to Help One of Their Own

Legendary Nashville rockers Jason & the Scorchers will reunite for one night in June, a benefit show for the band's drummer Perry Baggs. The show will take place at Nashville's world-famous Exit In club (www.exitin.com) on Saturday night, June 2nd. Baggs has suffered from diabetes for years and is currently in need of a kidney transplant. All profits realized by the show will be used to defray some of Baggs' mounting medical costs.

Baggs plans on performing at the show, with Fenner Castner, the Scorchers' drummer since 2002, picking up the slack. Former band members Andy York, Ken Fox and Jeff Johnson will also appear at the benefit. Singer/songwriter Stace England, from Illinois, will open for the Scorchers. The show will start promptly at 8:30 PM and the Scorchers will perform two sets.

Jason & the Nashville Scorchers were formed in 1981 when Jason Ringenberg, the son of an Illinois hog farmer, moved to Nashville fresh out of college. With guitar in hand and an itch to form a rock & roll band, Ringenberg subsequently met Jack Emerson and Perry Baggs, the original bassist and drummer for the band. Realizing the band's potential and knowing that he wasn't much of a musician himself, Emerson became the Scorchers' manager, and Baggs recruited guitarist Warner Hodges and bassist Jeff Johnson from local Nashville rock band the Electric Boys.

Together the foursome would record a four-song 7" EP, Reckless Country Soul, in 1982 for Emerson's independent Praxis Records label. Gigging around the Southeast, the band built up a loyal following, and released Fervor, a six-song 12" EP, on Praxis the following year. The critical acclaim heaped upon Fervor, along with the buzz building around the band's dynamic live performances, prompted EMI America to sign the band in 1984. EMI dropped the "Nashville" from the band's name, lest they sound too regional, and subsequently reissued Fervor, adding a red hot cover of Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" to the EP.