Squirrel Nut Zippers' Jimbo Mathus Releasing EP

05/02/2012
. This July, Squirrel Nut Zippers' Jimbo Mathus will release a six-song vinyl EP on the Big Legal Mess label titled Blue Light, which he recorded with producer Bruce Watson at Watson's Water Valley, Miss., studio, Dialed Back Sound.

Blue Light perfectly captures Mathus' style of Southern musical alchemy. From the proto garage rock of "Haunted John" ("up and down Saint Charles/rides the streetcar all night long"), to the sideways-with-the-law Southern rock of "Blue Light" to the dead-end gospel-fueled country weeper of "Burn the Honky Tonk," Mathus shows the diversity of his vision. The conviction of his singing and storytelling will make you believe every word is true. "I'm singing from absolute experience on this recording. Raw stories of real events," he says.

Engineer Lynn Bridges and Dial Back Sound enhanced the artist's raw, rough and tumble approach, adding warm textures and mournful pedal steel to make a sound akin to a late '60s roadhouse jukebox.

In his native Mississippi, and throughout the South, Mathus is recognized as the prolific songwriter of born-in-the-bone Southern music, the torchbearer for Deep South mythology and culture. Think Delta highways, bowling-pin Budweisers and "interplanetary honky-tonk" for the masses.

His credits include the North Mississippi Allstars' Electric Blue Watermelon, and he was Grammy-nominated as a member of Luther Dickinson & the Sons of Mudboy for the Jim Dickinson memorial album Onward and Upward. Mathus also recently joined forces with Luther and Alvin Youngblood Hart, forming the retro-roots "supergroup" the South Memphis String Band.

Fri., May 4, 6:15 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN FedEx Blues Tent
Sat., May 5, 9:30 p.m. COLUMBUS, MS (downtown)
Sun., May 6, 4:30 p.m. WATER VALLEY, MS (downtown)
Thurs., May 17, 7 p.m. OXFORD, MS The Powerhouse
Fri-Sat., May 18-19, TBD MARKSVILLE, LA Chief Joseph Alcide Pierite Pow Wow Grounds
Sat., May 26, 7:30 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN Levitt Shell at Overton Park
Fri., June 8, 10 p.m. LITTLE ROCK, AR Whitewater Tavern
Sat., June 9, TBD HELENA, AR Levee Stage
Fri., June 15, TBD ATLANTA, GA Star Bar
Fri., June 22, TBD NASHVILLE, TN Grimey's Basement
Sat., June 23, TBD CHARLESTON, SC The Pour House
Sun., June 24, TBD ATHENS, GA The Melting Pot
Thurs., June 28, 9 p.m. OXFORD, MS Rooster's Blues House
Sat., June 30, TBD WATERFORD, MS Hill Country Picnic Stage
Fri., July 6, TBD MOBILE, AL The Shed-Mobile
Sat., July 7, TBD OCEAN SPRINGS, MS The Shed-Ocean Springs
Sat., July 21, 7:30 p.m. MEMPHIS, TN National Ornamental
Sat., July 28, TBD PHILADELPHIA, MS Neshoba County Fair
Sat., Aug. 11, TBD CLARKSDALE, MS Delta Blues Museum Main Stage
Sat., Aug. 11, 9 p.m. HOPSON, MS Hopson Plantation Commissary
Thurs., Aug. 23, 8 p.m. BRADFORDVILLE, FL Bradfordville Blues Club