Interview: Jason Ringenberg (Farmer Jason)

In some small way, Jason Ringenberg is kids' music's Kings of Leon. Like his Tennessee compatriots, as Farmer Jason, Ringenberg has a definite United States fan base (and was big enough to play the Austin City Limits Festival a couple years ago) but may be even bigger in the UK and Europe. In this interview he talks about how his Farmer Jason career has slowly grown "across the pond" to the point of playing big festivals in Europe, challenges facing the artist creating a European fan base, and how to craft a show for a non-English-speaking audience.

Zooglobble: What music did you listen to growing up?
Jason Ringenberg: I grew up on a Midwestern hog farm. Most of the kids listened to corporate rock. However, I always loved American roots music, especially the classics like Dylan, Hank Williams Sr., Woody Guthrie, and Jerry Lee Lewis. On top of that, I had a fondness for the first wave punk rock, particularly the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, and The Ramones.

How long have you been playing music in Europe now?
I have been playing in Europe since 1984, when Jason and the Scorchers did our first tour there. Over the years, I have always performed in Europe with Jason and the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg, and now most interestingly as Farmer Jason.

When you first started going to Europe, wasn't it pretty much lots of Jason and the Scorchers shows with an occasional Farmer Jason show mixed in? Has that mix changed at all over time?
Initially we piggybacked Farmer Jason shows on to the Jason Ringenberg solo shows that I was doing so successfully in Europe the first half of this decade. We would book Jason Ringenberg shows at night, then ask the promoters or clubs to try a kids show in the daytime to go with it. To everyone’s surprise, the Farmer Jason shows started drawing bigger crowds than the regular Jason shows, sometimes substantially so. It has developed to the point now where Farmer Jason is driving the tours, doing the real business, and generating the most attention. For example, in May we did Bergenfest in Norway, a prestigious festival in Bergen. In the review of the festival, the Bergen Times gave Farmer Jason the lead focus over the headliners Little Feat and Jackson Browne, with a big front page picture. It’s an interesting world being Farmer Jason…

How difficult is it to cross the language barrier in the non-English speaking countries?
It definitely took some practice and a lot of thought. These days I usually use a local translator/foil that we work into the show. He/she has a personality and role beyond just translations. However, I still sing the music in English of course, but they get the overall idea of the song with the translated introductions. It helps that a lot of my songs have a jumpy energy that the kids can physically get into. My European shows do tend to be more physical.

Where do you play most of your shows? Clubs? Libraries? Schools?
I do all those venues and festivals as well. The last few years we have been able to get into some major European festivals, since the promoters feel they have a better chance of getting rock fans with kids to come if there is a family show in the daytime they can attend with their kids. We have also had good success doing school shows where the teachers have used the cds to help teach English. Sometimes I have even done that in high schools. In fact I just finished a 10 day tour of Mallorca doing schools. To my utter amazement, the high school audiences were completely into it. They made up dances and merrily sang along.

Since you've been going to Europe for awhile now, do you find when you go back that you now have young European fans?
Yes I can honestly say that the little Euro kids seem to relate to the Farmer Jason character as much as US kids. I think there is something inherently appealing about a singing farmer.

Do you have any thoughts on the European kids music "scene"?
Right now I have to say that it is years behind the US scene. Essentially there isn’t a scene other than huge corporate releases and tours, or TV driven acts. The idea of an artist playing to kids and releasing cds on an indie level is unheard of. I have essentially had to create my own system there, but I have found an enthusiastic audience for it.

Any advice for other North American artists looking to break into the European market?
You absolutely have to be prepared to create your own scene. You can’t go there and expect to just plug into a network. There is no network. You will have to build it.

What's next for you and Farmer Jason?
I have a very busy year ahead touring in the US and Europe. We will be promoting the new “IT’S a…Farmer Jason!” dvd, and further developing the video interstitial program I have been doing with the Nashville PBS station. We won an Emmy for that last year. I also am working on a book based on the Farmer Jason world. Most importantly, I will continue to take care of my farm. Those chickens can be a lot of trouble!

Why Should Rockists-In-Training Have All The Fun?

I'm typically either way ahead or way behind of the curve 'round here. In this particular case, I'm behind the curve as I'm mentioning the Stagecoach Festival, the country festival put on by the Coachella folks the week after Coachella. The Festival which, uh, happened last weekend.

But I wanted to mention it because it showed that country music is beginning to realize that maybe there's a market opportunity for them, too. Stagecoach had its own kids' music stage which featured, among others, Buck Howdy, Farmer Jason, The Hollow Trees, and The Bummkinn Band. (My personal favorite amongst these? The Hollow Trees, who do hootenannies up right.)

I heard that Sharon, Lois & Bram were gonna reunite for the festival but got booed offstage by Rage Against the Machine fans who were still stuck in the parking lot leaving the Coachella show.

Did I just make a Sharon, Lois & Bram joke? Goodness, I have issues.

There are a whole bunch of YouTube videos from the festival, but they mostly involve guys like George Strait and Kenny Chesney and other men with large hats worn unironically. So I'll just leave you with this video of Farmer Jason (Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers fame, for those of you new to this whole kids-music thing). He's got a hat, too, but he's playing in some guy's backyard.

The Wiggles, this genre ain't.

KidVid Tournament 2007: Day 1 Recap

Well, Day 1 of Zooglobble's KidVid Tournament 2007 is in the books and while there was no equivalent of the VCU upset over Duke, we already have a slight upset -- John Lithgow's #3 "Ya Gotta Have Pep" winning out over Laurie Berkner's "Farm Song". In the other matchup, #1 seed Steve Burns and Steven Drozd's "I Hog the Ground" handily beat a #4 seed, Farmer Jason's "Forest Rhymes."

Today's contests are a pair of 2-vs-3 matchups: Frances England's "Tricycle" going up against Sir Jerry's "Bees, Butterflies and Bugs" and Gustafer Yellowgold's "I'm From the Sun" against AudraRox's "I Hope My Mama Says YES!". Go forth and vote there by Saturday noon-ish East Coast time.

And if you haven't yet voted for the as-yet-unfilled 16th video slot, go here and do so. (And, yes, "Pieces of 8ight" is already in the other 15 videos.)

KidVid Tournament 2007: "I Hog The Ground" (1) vs. "Forest Rhymes" (4)

The first competition in KidVid Tournament 2007 pits the #1 seed in the Lead Belly Region, "I Hog The Ground (Groundhog Song)" from Steve Burns and Steven Drozd against the #4 seed, "Forest Rhymes" from Farmer Jason.

Vote in the comments below. Rules: Video with most votes wins. One vote per e-mail address, please. Votes due by Friday noon-ish East Coast time.

"I Hog The Ground (Groundhog Song)" - Steve Burns and Steven Drozd
In spite of the Viacom-YouTube lawsuit, the video is still available there if you know where to look. When that inevitably gets removed (again), just go to Jack's Big Music Show player. Currently it's the video that plays whenever you go to the page, but if it's not the case later, just roll over the picture of a balding guy with the "I [Heart] Ground" shirt and click.

"Forest Rhymes" - Farmer Jason
Click here to view on Rhino's website or on the larger YouTube screen.

Review: Rockin' In the Forest With Farmer Jason - Farmer Jason (Jason Ringenberg)

There are those who, upon hearing Rockin' In the Forest With Farmer Jason, the recently-released second album from Farmer Jason, might wonder: Could this be the very same Jason Ringenberg who fronted "Jason and the Scorchers"? It sounds so... so... different.

Those of us who have heard A Day at the Farm..., his first kids' album, know that it's definitely him.

The hard part for older listeners to get used to when listening to Rockin' In the Forest is the sheer exuberance of the whole thing -- shiny, gleaming horns on the poppy leadoff track "The Forest Oh!" or the modern country production of the slightly mournful melody of "Arrowhead." The wellspring of exuberance, however, is Farmer Jason himself, who is just so darn enthusiastic that it might drive some parents nuts. Except that he goes so far beyond the line that there's that glimmer of "yes, I know this is all a little too much, but your kids are eating this up, aren't they?, so just play along." I love the deadpan way he says he's going to "sing a song about a moose on the loose called... 'He's a Moose... on the Loose.'"

Ringenberg knows his way around a bunch of musical styles, from the spaghetti western stylings of "Ode to a Toad" to the Django Reinhardt violin noodlings of "A Butterfly Speaks" to smallest, simplest (and perhaps best) song on the whole disk, the virtually a cappella "Mrs. Mouse." He wraps the melodic nuggets around lyrics that introduce young listeners to different animals in the forest (natch). While the cover and liner note art suggest very anthropomorphized approaches (ugh -- did I just use the phrase "anthropomorphized approaches"?) to the subject, the actual lyrics play it straight for the most part.

Kids ages 3 through 8 are the ones most likely to appreciate Jason's enthusiastic approach and lyrical focus here. You can hear samples wherever fine kids' music is sold (on the Internet, anyway).

If you liked A Day at the Farm..., you'll also like this new album, as it's very similar in tone, maybe a little broader musically. I'm giving this album a "Recommended," but it's with the warning that you're going to have to detach that little parental "I'm too cool for this" monitor in your head -- if you can do that (your kids don't -- or shouldn't -- have one yet), you'll enjoy this just fine. Recommended.