Artist Spotlight
Farmer Jason
…inspiring children to appreciate nature, through song
A myKaZoo Music Artist
When internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Ringenberg created his family music character Farmer Jason, he had no idea he was launching what would prove to be the most commercially successful creation of his storied career. With Jason and the Scorchers in the 1980s, Jason pioneered the fusion of punk rock and country that helped birth the modern Americana and alt-country genres. There is a Scorchers exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame and they are recipients of the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Times (UK) called Jason "one of the most dynamic live performers of his generation." Jason could rest easy, assured that his place in rock 'n' roll history was secure.
However, by the early 2000s it was time for a change. Jason was living on a farm west of Nashville with his young family and itching to try something different, something more organic and family-oriented. Remembering his boyhood on an Illinois farm where he learned to love nature while teaching himself to play guitar and harmonica, he created the family music character Farmer Jason in 2002. His first release, A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason debuted in 2003. "My ambitions were quite simple: to make a record that my own daughters and their little friends could enjoy," Jason said. To his delight and surprise, the project took root, earning kudos like Disney's Family Fun Magazine's Best of the Year list. Soon kids were singing along to "The Tractor Goes Chug Chug Chug" at Farmer Jason family concerts all over North America and Europe in venues ranging from fairs on the Alaskan tundra to private schools in posh central London.
Rockin' in the Forest followed in 2006, which solidified Farmer Jason's position in the family music world as a prominent artist, earning awards like a Parents' Choice Gold Award and Children's Record of the Year listing by the Los Angeles Times. Nashville Public Television noticed this phenomenon in their backyard and decided to produce an Emmy Award winning video interstitial program using the Farmer Jason songs and personality called "It's a Farmer Jason."
Now the story continues with the latest release, Nature Jams, by Farmer Jason and Buddies on myKaZoo Music/Universal. This is the most ambitious and adventurous Farmer Jason project to date. Each track has guest star artists singing duets about nature subjects and outdoor activities like whale watching, ice skating, hiking and spelunking.
The guest star list on the release is both impressive and unexpected. Farmer Jason pulls in many old and new friends, including Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes, Mike Mills from R.E.M., Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, Iris DeMent, indie folk darling Brandi Carlile, Grammy®-award winning bassist Vic Wooten, Americana hipster Todd Snider, banjo virtuoso Alison Brown, zydeco star Terrance Simien, platinum-selling vocalist Suzy Bogguss, Irish rockers The Saw Doctors, humorist-musician Webb Wilder, Hank Williams III and the legendary Tommy Ramone of the Ramones. Other guest artists are Jo Nesbø, the international best selling mystery novelist; Kristi Rose, a Nashville chanteuse; and Ruthie Foster, the Blues Music Awards' Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year. Even Jason and the Scorchers join in.
You can bet the Farmer Jason tractor will keep on chugging and will someday come to your town. Grab a pitchfork – or a guitar – and hop aboard.
