Barnegat Library Hosts Farmer Jason

Farmer Jason at the Barnegat Library, Today!

I know you're thinking, ‘who?' Well, Farmer Jason is the alter-ego of Jason Ringenberg, a well know country music star.

When internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Ringenberg created his family music character Farmer Jason in 2003, 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, he pioneered the fusion of punk rock and country that turned the music world on its ear in the mid-1980s. Their first record, Lost and Found, still shows up on critics' "best of the 1980s" lists, and there is an exhibit of them in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Jason wanted to make a cd that his kids could listen to while he was out globetrotting. Since they lived on a small farm in Tennessee, he reckoned that a roots oriented record about farming and farm animals was just the ticket. Hence the first Farmer Jason cd, A day in the Live of Farmer Jason, was born. He released it "purely for fun" in the fall of 2003, delighted to hear his daughters singing along. That was the peak of his ambition for it.

To his surprise, soon lots of other daughters and little sons were singing along as well. Disney's magazine called it "one of the Top 5 Family CDs of 2003. "Farmer Jason," was soon doing concerts from inner city schools in Brooklyn to country fairs in rural Norway. In 2006 he released Rockin' the Forest with Farmer Jason. With its stick in your head hooks and subtle lessons about ecology and nature appreciation, the record earned rave reviews, including the Parents Choice Gold Medal. Its success generated even heavier touring around the world, including many major European and US festivals. USA Today has called the Farmer Jason show "one of the most memorable.
What started out as a simple side project to entertain his own daughters has grown into a worldwide band wagon pulled by a tractor and a singing farmer. You can bet the tractor will keep on rolling.

The Barnegat Library contains thousands of books, scores of reference volumes, audio cassettes, videos and other materials for public use. All books are searchable by subject, title, or author in the library system's computerized database that is tied into the county-wide system. You can even reserve a book and have it sent to the Barnegat branch when it becomes available. The library has full PC workstations and a children's area.

Ocean County Library, Barnegat Branch
112 Burr Street, Barnegat - (609) 698-3331

Karl Hess, Barnegat, Your Agent on The Jersey Shore