A Blazing Grace
A Blazing Grace is an album by the American band Jason & the Scorchers, released in 1995 on Mammoth Records. The initial album title was Men and Women, War and Peace. The band supported the album with a North American tour. The first single, "Take Me Home, Country Roads", was a modest radio hit.
Production
The album marked a reunion of the band's original lineup; the band, in part, recorded the album as an excuse to play live and tour. Produced by the band, A Blazing Grace was recorded at Castle Recording Studio, in Nashville. All of the band members were struggling with personal issues, and regarded the offer of free studio time as a blessing."Why Baby Why" is a cover of the George Jones song; "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is a cover of the John Denver song. The band initially intended the cover songs to be b-sides. "Somewhere Within" was Jason Ringenberg's favorite composition.
Critical reception
Newsday wrote that "Ringenberg's high-lonesome tone has always lent itself to balladeering, and it might be a mark of age and experience that a couple of the album's best songs gear down to make breathing room for heartfelt expression." The Indianapolis Star noted that "the Scorchers haven't lost one iota of supercharged twang." The Washington Post determined that Ringenberg "attacks the as if he were leading the Ramones at the Grand Ole Opry."Don McLeese, of the Austin American-Statesman, opined: "Though I once considered the Scorchers the great lost American rock band of the '80s, the band has regrouped with a 1995 album that is arguably its best—and is likely to rank with the year's best as well." Guitar Player deemed guitarist Warner Hodges "the Eddie Van Halen of country-punk." The Vancouver Sun concluded that "there's nothing amusing about taking George Jones' sublime 'Why Baby Why' and subjecting it to sub-metal boogieization."