Rediscovery of a Musician

Jimbo Mathus is the most recent addition to my list of all-time favorite musicians. You may recognize his name or voice from his former band Squirrel Nut Zippers where he and his fellow musicians tore it up with old school swing and vaudeville music. I've been a fan of the zippers since I first heard "Put A Lid On It" on the radio in 1995.

I have most of their records and saw them play an incredible show at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philly in 2000 where they opened up by playing "Ghost of Stephen Foster" lit only by their old school cartoon video projected behind them. Amazing show. Even so, I was never that aware of any of the players individually - until the spring of 2005 when I stumbled upon a Jimbo Mathus show at a little restaurant/bar venue in Chestertown, MD.

We had gone to Chestertown with our neighbors who invited us to a show there. We arrive and decide to get dinner first at Andy's while we're eating a 4 piece blues band is setting up. As we finish eating they start. I was expecting your average bar blues band but these guys were kicking out sweet, raw, groovy blues from the south. Tight grooves like a funk band and wild, gritty guitar all over the place.

The more I listened, the more the singer's voice seemed familiar and all I could think of was Squirrel Nut Zippers but the singing style was different. More loose and raw - not the clean, annunciating singer from the zippers. Well after 3 songs we had to get to the show we came down for.

We get there and its a Grateful Dead cover band - and not a good one. So we sit there for a couple songs and have a beer but all my wife and I can think is man, we gotta go see the rest of the blues bands set but we didn't want to ditch our neighbors when they were the ones that invited us down there. Thankfully Larry (neighbor) comes over and says "Guys, this is not the show we thought we were coming to see - this band stinks. Let's go back and check out the blues band."

We go back to Andy's and catch the end of the blues band's first set which was equally killer. During the set break the singer/lead guitarist is chatting at the merch table near us so I went up and told him we loved the set and bought a disc and a shirt. When I got a look at him up close I knew it was the singer from the Squirrel Nut Zippers but asked just to be sure and... you got it.

Anyway, the record I bought, "Knockdown South", became a quick favorite. Moody electric southern blues is the best way I can describe it. His new one "Ol' School Hot Wings" is my favorite though. Classic old blues, country & country/blues songs done with traditional acoustic instrumentation - a real treat. With this record I realized that Jimbo Mathus is a true master bluesman of the most genuine kind. And the folks playing with him on the records are not to be skipped over either - very pure players (including a couple from the North Mississippi All-Stars).

Check out the good word about Jimbo Mathus (aka James Mathus, Jas. Mathus) at jimbomathus.net. You'll find out that Jimbo was born in the Delta with some very close ties to the origins of the blues.


"Thank ya people!"