[8] With a sound that combines punk rock and country music, Jason and the Scorchers are noted for their energetic live performances and have earned strong reviews from critics, including Mark Deming, who declared they "blazed a trail for the cowpunk and alt-country movements that followed in their wake.

[8] He was introduced to his original Scorcher bandmates through the independent Praxis record label, and the group soon established a strong reputation among indie rock circles.

Rock critic Jimmy Guterman reported that in late 1983, during a concert held "in the basement of a now-boarded Philadelphia dive...Jason Ringenberg balanced himself on a rickety stool...and wished aloud what he wanted his band to sound like.

[Drummer] Perry Baggs concentrated on destroying his snare with style, and [bassist] Jeff Johnson stood intent and rail-straight, an ideal foil for the two wild men up front...Guitarist Warner Hodges slid from delicate lap steel to Keith Richards-style guitar heroics without making one seem like a departure from the other.

Whether he stood at the lip of the stage, leaning over the audience, sucking a cigarette, or he spun himself into speedy circles that would have made any mere mortal dizzy, Hodges personified the country boy too thrilled to be rocking to care how ridiculous he looked.

His own dancing during the rocking numbers suggested (The Honeymooners') Ed Norton on methamphetamines, but when he strapped on his acoustic guitar and stood center stage, no one could argue that he wasn't haunted by the ghosts of Hank [Williams] and Lefty [Frizzell].

By now, the Scorchers were fairly popular as a live act, and rock critics from noted publications began to take notice.

Robert Christgau praised Fervor in his "Consumer Guide" column, writing that "crossing Gram Parsons's knowledge of sin with Joe Ely's hellbent determination to get away with it, Jason Ringenberg leads a band no one can accuse of fecklessness, dabbling, revivalism, or undue irony.

[12] 1987 was also the year that EMI dropped the Scorchers from its label, and Jeff Johnson left the band and was replaced by Ken Fox.

A few years later, EMI Records hired Jimmy Guterman to compile a compact disc retrospective of the Scorchers' music.

: The Essential Jason and the Scorchers, Volume 1 was issued in the fall of 1992, including all of Fervor, Lost and Found, and four rarities.

It would fall out of print years later, replaced by a shorter compilation that excluded all of the rarities, but it helped introduce the Scorchers to a new generation of listeners who were experiencing a different musical landscape.

In 1997, Jeff Johnson amicably departed from the band, wishing to be with his wife and essentially retiring from the music business; he was replaced by Kenny Ames, of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Since then, the band independently released a live concert from 1985 on Ringenberg's own homemade label, Courageous Chicken Records.

In 2002, Courageous Chicken Records released Wildfires and Misfires: Two Decades of Outtakes and Rarities, which contained much previously unreleased material from throughout the band's history.

One of the lead tracks on the record, "Golden Days" was written by Ringenberg with two friends from the British rock band, The Wildhearts.

In September 2010, Ringenberg reunited with his Shakespeare's Riot bandmates Gary Gibula and Tom Miller for brief performances at a coffeehouse and an outdoor pavilion in Carbondale, Illinois.

In 2008, Jason and the Scorchers received the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performance Category.

Guitarist Warner Hodges and Jason Ringenberg led a modified version of the Scorchers through a full set at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville after the Americana awards.