Squirrel Nut Zippers come to Woodstock

Taking their name from a type of bootleg moonshine down south, Squirrel Nut Zippers have been performing in various incarnations since the early 90s. This Saturday evening, SNZ are coming to Levon Helm’s in Woodstock, presenting Back O’ Town. The musical theatrical show reaches back to the birth of jazz and features favorites from their catalog and some New Orleans classics as well.

I caught up with frontman James “Jimbo” Mathus last week. With his baritone voice and charming Mississippi accent, he kindly told me a little about SNZ’s newest show and the interesting life he’s led leading up to it.

Let’s start with the Back O’ Town show you’re bringing to Levon Helm’s.

Well, we’re telling the story about this fictitious place, the Back O’ Town, that birthed jazz and the Squirrel Nut Zippers and everything weird and old about America. We use most of our own material, and I’ve composed some new pieces for it, but we put it in a cool little story arc with an MC and some other nice things we’ve got going.

It’s the same band, full horn section, full rhythm section, full traditional New Orleans ten-piece with the tuxedos, really going for that 30s look. We’re just kinda shifting gears a little bit and changing our performance dynamic, bringing out a little more theatrical vibe, cause we’ve always incorporated that, we’re just kind of formalizing it into a new show we’re really excited about.

Creepy, old, cool. Just like us.

You come from a musical family in Mississippi. How did your early influences set you on this musical trajectory, playing swing, jazz, an Americana kind of tradition?

My father, my uncles, my cousins were all musicians, they played for their own amusement to pass the time. I was really taken with the whole thing. The folk music, the country, the gospel I grew up playing, led me to other types of American music. Being a historian myself, I did my own research, which led me to jazz and vaudeville stuff. That’s really what I’m doing with the Back O’ Town show, going to those early days.

A lot of the folk songs are very territorial, there’s a story behind them. It could be a murder, natural disaster, love gone wrong, you know, torn from the headlines. Those things just really spoke to me, those old stories, so how to connect with that is what I’ve been doing all my life. Really, just kind of the life of the American troubadour.

Speaking of which, when you were a young man you were in the Merchant Marines, and you toured the country when you were on shore leave. That part of your bio almost belongs to another generation, kinda like your music, you know what I mean? Can you share a story from that time period in your life?

Oh my Lord, we’re going back into my late teens, I turned 21 on the river boats…

I was starting to see all the different kinds of music that were out there, cause I grew up in a very isolated area, we didn’t even have MTV and stuff in the 80s. So I really didn’t know that much, then my eyes were open to ALL this kind of music that was really happening, plus I was starting to get into Robert Johnson, blues, it was almost overwhelming.

I wasn’t sure how I fit in, so I ended up going to work on the barges, just someplace that took my mind off everything, except, like, hard physical labor, and eating and sleeping.

And being in the elements, there’s just no distraction there, so I was able to read, to take my guitar out, it eventually evolved into taking a little 4-track out there, and that’s when I started composing my own stuff and recording demos.

Like, you’d be actually on a barge when you were recording demos?

Yeah, with a little 4-track, on the Mississippi. It’s like being in a Mark Twain thing.

That’s what I’m saying.

You know, it was purposeful at that time. I just felt like I needed to dig deep and figure out what it was I was trying to do. And I DID figure it out out there, through reading, working, and just meditating on what my life was going to hold.

Within a few years of that a lot of things started happening. Like the Squirrel Nut Zippers. It wasn’t very long after that. I made a lot of big decisions, I made a lot of big moves, you know?

I want to ask you about the “Swing Revival.” Because you guys date to that period in the 90s, and I was wondering to what extent did you form within that swing revival, and to what extent was it just sorta coincidental to what you guys would’ve done anyway?

It was 100% coincidental. I mean, we were working in isolation. I’ve always lived in really rural areas, I’ve hardly ever lived in towns. So I was putting this band together in this old farm house outside of Chapel Hill, NC, in the county, and we would just open up all the doors, finding people that could have the old-time vibe. I was trying to learn to play this ragtime and swing, and all kinds of just oddball music we started out with. But, again, in complete isolation.

So the first time they flew us to LA, we’re pulling up in the cab, and there was this huge line around the block, people in vintage clothes. And I’m like, what is going on here? The show’s not for, like, three hours? And they’re like, they’re waiting to see you guys, and there’s another swing dance going on in there.

Oh my Lord, we’re not a swing band, we’re more of a hillbilly band!

Uh huh!

And then, say a year and a half later, that’s when the radio picked up “Hell” [single on second album] and somehow made a move to put a bunch of groups in similar veins on the top of the pops. Why they did that I have no idea. But I came to realize these other groups were doing similar era pieces, like we were. Musically we weren’t so similar, but they were recreating past eras in various forms with varying success, for varying reasons. I don’t think ANY of those bands had gotten into it because there was some kind of revival going on. It happened within a matter of months, you know. And then all of a sudden it was in the magazines, etc.

So that was in the 90s. Things have changed since then. What’s the scene now? How do you find yourselves these days working into a changed world?

Well, at first we were like fake nostalgia, now coming up on thirty years, we’re like real nostalgia. People actually grew up listening to us, their parents met at a Squirrel Nut Zippers concert, these types of things.

We’ve always encouraged multi-age groups, that was part of my thing, like when I grew up playing for grandma, cousins, and everybody, you know, everybody’s gotta like it. That’s what you’re doing, stuff they want to hear.

We made up a whole new genre, it had that nostalgic ring. There were people at our early shows that were in World War Two, must’ve seen Tommy Dorsey. And their kids turned them onto us, or vice versa.

So that’s just continued, and the people that were children then are adults now and have their own.

Our live shows have really sustained us in the past six years since I reanimated the band. Word has gotten around. I feel we’re just doing what we’re supposed to do as a big, fun, entertaining dance band. And give you some profound moments in there, you know?

So I think the concerts are what we’re going to continue to do. This type of music I can do until they lay me down.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers Back O’ Town Show takes place at Levon Helm Studios on Sat., Nov. 11, 7pm. There’s currently a waiting list for tickets, see levonhelm.com for details.