Farmer Jason

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 Lifetime Achievement Award. No less than UK’s The Times 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. He was living on a farm west of Nashville with his young family and itching to try something different, something more organic and family-oriented. “As a child, I had grown up on our Illinois farm that bordered the Rock Island Line Railroad. I taught myself to play guitar and harmonica listening to those trains go by,” remembers Jason. “Every spare minute I would hike and wander those fields and forests relishing the wonders of nature, a habit I have maintained to this day.” Based on those childhood experiences, he created the family music character Farmer Jason in 2002. A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason was released in 2003. Stylistically leaning towards acoustic folk and bluegrass, the concept of the record was to educate and entertain pre-school children with songs about farm animals and farm life. “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 with Farmer Jason followed in 2006, with Farmer Jason signed to the major label Kid Rhino/Lionsgate. This time the recording was much more electric and high energy, with songs about the forest and its inhabitants. “Punk Rock Skunk,” a hilarious ode to the virtues of being different, was a hit with kids and adults alike. Rockin’ in the Forest solidified Farmer Jason’s position in the family music world as a long term artist, earning awards like a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and Children’s Record of the Year listing by the Los Angeles Times. 

 

His latest Farmer Jason project is the wondrous Christmas album Christmas on the Farm with Farmer Jason. On this record, our good farmer explores the farming connections to the Christmas story. He wrote several new Christmas songs, as well as rendering his unique twist to some Holiday classics.  USA Today called it “one of the most entertaining and educational Christmas records of the Season.” 

 

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.