Jimbo Mathus, the mastermind behind the million-selling sensation, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, is debuting his latest side project, the Overstuffed Po-Boys, at Chickie Wah Wah on Thursday night. They will be playing 1960s and 1970s R&B classics from New Orleans including works by the likes of Ernie K Doe, Chris Kenner, Lee Dorsey, and Robert Parker.
His new outfit features a number of musicians who are currently part of the latest lineup of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Expect to see Nielson Bernard on drums, Dr. Sick on violin, banjo, and musical saw, Charlie Halloran on trombone, Henry Westmoreland on saxophone, and Leslie Martin on keys.
While the Squirrel Nut Zippers were pigeonholed in the swing music revival of the 1990s, Mathus, who also produces music and plays hill country blues among other genres, says that style of music was never really part of the music’s DNA.
2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the Squirrel Nut Zippers most celebrated and commercially successful album Hot. Originally released in the summer of 1996, Hot was the follow-up to the band’s critically acclaimed debut The Inevitable. By this time the group had already established a substantial live following across the country thanks to early support from NPR, college radio, and non-commercial stations. Hot wound up selling over 1.3 million copies.
Last year, the Squirrel Nut Zippers performed their first set of tour dates since 2009 to sold out crowds across the country. As Jimbo Mathus has said since the band’s re-launch, “It’s not a reunion, it’s a revival.” The band is currently in the studio working on a new album which will be their first in seventeen years.
Jimbo Mathus’ Overstuffed Po-Boys will also appear at the Hi Ho Lounge at 4 PM on Fat Tuesday.
