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I can make no legitimate claim to an ability to define Americana. Like the former chief justice said about another art form, I know it when I, um, hear it. And for my money, Jimbo Mathus<\/strong>‘ Dark Night of the Soul<\/em> fits that description in the best way.<\/p>\n For those who haven’t been paying close attention to his music, the album comes as quite a shock. There was little or nothing in his Squirrel Nut Zippers<\/strong> days to suggest he’d ever make this kind of music. That late-late-90s sensation scored a hit with \u201cHell,\u201d a song that unwittingly (unforgivably?) presaged today’s innumerable hordes of early-jazz pretenders, though the 2014 version identikit often includes vintage three-piece suits, fedoras, arm garters, Civil War-era beards and shit-eating grins.<\/p>\n But Jimbo Mathus and his music are miles away from all that. On Dark Night of the Soul<\/em>, Mathus crafts a world-weary collection of tales in a kind of Southern gothic mold, and takes the listener on a musical travelogue of truly American styles. The opening (title) track opens with a rickety, reverbed piano that recalls nothing so much as Big Star<\/strong>‘s Third<\/em>. As the song unfolds into a languid rocker, shades of Randy Newman<\/strong> appear, shot through with Mathus’ own signature style. The heavily distorted guitar on \u201cWhite Angel\u201d signals that Mathus will be serving up some southern rock. But he does it with shade, light and subtlety: quiet parts contrast nicely with bluesy guitar licks and a slow, stomping and insistent beat.<\/p>\n With a title like \u201cRock N Roll Trash,\u201d you’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect. Well-worn chord changes recall some odd hybrid of Leon Russell<\/strong> and The New York Dolls<\/strong>. In anyone else’s hands, \u201cShine Like a Diamond\u201d would be slick enough to earn the tag \u201cradio ready,\u201d but Mathus’ hoary vocals apply a sense of authenticity that prevents that characterization. The scintillating B3 work conjures thoughts of The Band<\/strong>, and the outro’s sha-la-la vocals hint at a Van Morrison<\/strong> influence at work.<\/p>\n \u201cWriting Spider\u201d sounds like a Blood on the Tracks<\/em> outtake with a much better vocalist. The song’s delightful and subtle electric 12-string is an unexpected bit of texture. \u201cTallahatchie\u201d is one of only three co-credits on the album; Mathus composed the other nine on his own. It’s a country blues-infused midtempo ballad with some appealing tack piano and gospel-flavored Delaney and Bonnie<\/strong>-style backing vocals.<\/p>\n The first chords or two of \u201cBurn the Ships\u201d feel a bit like \u2013 of all things \u2013 George Harrison<\/strong>‘s \u201cMy Sweet Lord,\u201d but the tune almost immediately heads in a very different direction, out-distorting Rust Never Sleeps<\/em> era Neil Young and Crazy Horse<\/strong>. (And don’t let all my talk of the instrumentation and arrangement distract you from the lyrics; Mathus is a deeply evocative and colorful lyricists, and the tunes on Dark Night of the Soul<\/em> wold likely read well as poetry\/prose.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/jimbo_live.jpg\")
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