{"id":13835,"date":"2018-01-02T05:30:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T10:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=13835"},"modified":"2018-01-01T22:41:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T03:41:09","slug":"the-squirrel-nut-zippers-hot-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/02\/the-squirrel-nut-zippers-hot-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"The Squirrel Nut Zippers: Hot for the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Founded in Chapel Hill, N.C., the Squirrel Nut Zippers were more a summer art project than a serious band. But with the 1996 smash success of \u201cHell\u201d from the group’s second album, the Zippers were catapulted into mainstream success. The group folded after releasing a holiday-themed album and 2000’s Bedlam Ballroom<\/i>, but founder Jimbo Mathus mounted a \u201crevival\u201d in celebration of the 20th<\/sup> anniversary of Hot<\/i>. And this season the Zippers put together a holiday extravaganza, billed as the First Annual Christmas Caravan Tour.<\/p>\n

Often pegged as a novelty act, the Squirrel Nut Zippers came onto the 1990s music scene with a dazzling stew of various musical styles. \u201cLet’s just be honest,\u201d Mathus says. \u201cIt was a novelty. It was a throwback musical style. And we never intended for it to be widely heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was<\/i> heard. \u201cHell\u201d (and its accompanying music video) sounded and looked like nothing else happening musically at the time. With the good fortune of coincidental timing, the Zippers were lumped in with the then-burgeoning swing dance revival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not really a swing band,\u201d Mathus says. He notes that the Zippers’ musical approach drew (and draws) upon calypso, New Orleans hot jazz, and even German cabaret. He didn’t really mind the swing connection, though. \u201cA lot of people in the band really resented that we were being pigeonholed some way,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I was like, ‘Man, this is a good problem to have!’\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of the success of \u201cHell\u201d and the Hot<\/i> album, the Zippers toured widely. Their high profile included performances at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a gig at Bill Clinton’s second Inaugural Ball, and a date at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, supporting Tony Bennett. Mathus has especially fond memories of the Radio City gig. \u201cThat was probably the highlight\u201d of that era, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting with grandmother, my mom, my aunts and cousins, and we were watching Tony Bennett soundcheck,\u201d Mathus recalls. \u201cAnd my grandmother turned around and said, ‘I know your grandfather\u2019s here with us right now, being able to see this. He would love this so much.’ And that\u2019s the biggest success of my career, right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Zippers went their separate ways near the end of that decade; some members left music completely, while others remained quite active. Mathus had already launched a solo career with 1997’s Play Songs for Rosetta<\/i>; he’s since released more than a dozen highly-regarded albums. He also enjoyed a tenure as part of blues man Buddy Guy’s band. Mathus’ entire career \u2013 including numerous production credits \u2013 highlights his abiding love for Americana in all its forms. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely a musicologist, and on any one song of mine there’ll be a myriad of references,\u201d Mathus says, mentioning Bill Monroe, Charley Patton, T-Bone Walker and Stephen Foster. It’s that wide-screen, well-informed approach that makes his music \u2013 with and beyond the Zippers \u2013 so rich and appealing.<\/p>\n

The 1990s lineups of the Squirrel Nut Zippers included indie sensation Andrew Bird and Asheville’s own Je Widenhouse. And the group organized reunions in the years between 2000 and the launch of the 2016 revival. But the current lineup features all new members, save leader and front man Mathus. (Asheville-based Hank West is part of the band as well.)<\/p>\n

The Zippers recently completed a new studio album, their first since 2009’s Lost at Sea<\/i>. \u201cIt’s called Beasts of Burgundy<\/i>,\u201d Mathus says, noting that the last word is pronounced Bur-GUN-dy<\/i>, like the street for which it’s named. \u201cIt\u2019s really a love letter to the counterculture of historical New Orleans. It’s a world-class album of original songs, it uses all the strengths of a 9-piece band, and everybody\u2019s able to shine on it.\u201d The album is scheduled for release in 2018. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the holiday tour builds upon the Zippers’ 1998 Christmas Caravan<\/i> album. \u201cIt was my favorite Zippers record,\u201d Mathus says. \u201cBecause it has that great functionality to it, being a seasonal thing.\u201d The tour presented an opportunity to play those songs and other holiday favorites in the Zippers’ inimitable style. Speaking ahead of the tour’s Asheville date in December, Mathus promised. \u201cIt’ll be something that’s out of the ordinary, and very creative and well-done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Founded in Chapel Hill, N.C., the Squirrel Nut Zippers were more a summer art project than a serious band. But with the 1996 smash success of \u201cHell\u201d from the group’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41,44],"tags":[237,1151,2023],"class_list":["post-13835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-interview","category-live-shows","tag-asheville","tag-jimbo-mathus","tag-squirrel-nut-zippers","cat-6-id","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13837,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13835\/revisions\/13837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}