Biography
With deep ties to the diverse musical traditions of the South, Jimbo Mathus first drew notice as a co-founder of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, whose distinctive spin on early hot jazz propelled the track “Hell” onto the modern rock charts as an unexpected success in 1996. The group’s blend of jump blues, vintage pop, and hot jazz marked only one facet of Mathus’s broader palette of influences. Launching a solo career, he explored country blues on Play Songs for Rosetta, blues-infused rock & roll on National Antiseptic, honky-tonk country on Jimmy the Kid, and atmospheric roots rock on Stop and Let the Devil Ride, often shifting styles within a single release such as Confederate Buddha. Across these projects the unifying element remained the sounds of his native Mississippi and the blues heritage that underpins them.
Born James H. Mathis, Jr. in Oxford, Mississippi in 1967, he was raised in a musical household and began playing mandolin by age eight, joining family gatherings that centered on country, folk, and blues material. Expanding to guitar and piano, he later formed the band the End and the noise-punk group Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves while still in high school. After enrolling at Mississippi State University to study philosophy and perform locally, he left to serve in the Merchant Marines, using shore leave for extensive travel. Following a period in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he settled there and educated himself through extensive reading at the University of North Carolina library.
Adopting the surname Mathus, he began drumming for Metal Flake Mother and met vocalist Katharine Whalen, whose affinity for 1920s and ’30s music and style led the pair to marry and, in 1993, form a band drawing on Django Reinhardt, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Raymond Scott. Naming the ensemble the Squirrel Nut Zippers after a once-popular Southern candy, they built a following through energetic performances, wry humor, and singular sound. Signing with Mammoth Records, they issued The Inevitable Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1995, which received favorable notices and college-radio play; the 1996 follow-up Hot then crossed into the mainstream on the strength of “Hell.” After three additional albums, lineup shifts, and the couple’s divorce, the Squirrel Nut Zippers disbanded in 2000.
Mathus had already launched outside projects before the split. In 1997 he assembled Jas. Mathus & His Knock-Down Society with bassist Stu Cole, pianist Greg Bell, and producer Mike Napolitano to record Play Songs for Rosetta, a blues collection benefiting a family friend whose father was Charley Patton. He also appeared as a sideman on Andrew Bird’s 1998 debut Thrills with Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire. His first proper solo outing, 2001’s National Antiseptic under the name James Mathus & His Knockdown Society, again featured Cole, Bell, and members of the North Mississippi Allstars; that same year he contributed guitar to Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea sessions.
Stop and Let the Devil Ride appeared in 2003, followed in 2005 by Knockdown South under the Jimbo Mathus name. Returning to acoustic Mississippi blues and country, he released Old Scool Hot Wings (credited to Jas. Mathus) in 2006. Also issued that year under Jimbo Mathus was the country-leaning Jimmy the Kid, originally on Artemis Records and later reissued by Hill Country Records in 2009 and Fat Possum in 2014. A Squirrel Nut Zippers reunion tour and the 2009 album Lost at Sea temporarily paused his solo work. Resuming under the Jimbo name, he issued Confederate Buddha on Memphis International Records in 2011 (reissued 2015). The six-song Blue Light EP followed in 2012, then the full-length White Buffalo in 2013.
In February 2014 Mathus and his Tri-State Coalition delivered the electric Dark Night of the Soul, while also contributing to Ian Siegal’s Picnic Sessions that year. Seeking an all-analog aesthetic for the next album, he recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, and released the loosely conceptual Blue Healer in spring 2015. Another expansive set, Band of Storms, appeared on Fat Possum Records in 2016. A fresh Squirrel Nut Zippers lineup toured and issued Beats of Burgundy in 2019; the following year Mathus returned as a solo artist with the moody, wide-ranging Incinerator. Reuniting with Andrew Bird, he co-created the primarily acoustic duo album These 13 in 2021, writing all songs and performing every instrument.
Born James H. Mathis, Jr. in Oxford, Mississippi in 1967, he was raised in a musical household and began playing mandolin by age eight, joining family gatherings that centered on country, folk, and blues material. Expanding to guitar and piano, he later formed the band the End and the noise-punk group Johnny Vomit & the Dry Heaves while still in high school. After enrolling at Mississippi State University to study philosophy and perform locally, he left to serve in the Merchant Marines, using shore leave for extensive travel. Following a period in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he settled there and educated himself through extensive reading at the University of North Carolina library.
Adopting the surname Mathus, he began drumming for Metal Flake Mother and met vocalist Katharine Whalen, whose affinity for 1920s and ’30s music and style led the pair to marry and, in 1993, form a band drawing on Django Reinhardt, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Raymond Scott. Naming the ensemble the Squirrel Nut Zippers after a once-popular Southern candy, they built a following through energetic performances, wry humor, and singular sound. Signing with Mammoth Records, they issued The Inevitable Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1995, which received favorable notices and college-radio play; the 1996 follow-up Hot then crossed into the mainstream on the strength of “Hell.” After three additional albums, lineup shifts, and the couple’s divorce, the Squirrel Nut Zippers disbanded in 2000.
Mathus had already launched outside projects before the split. In 1997 he assembled Jas. Mathus & His Knock-Down Society with bassist Stu Cole, pianist Greg Bell, and producer Mike Napolitano to record Play Songs for Rosetta, a blues collection benefiting a family friend whose father was Charley Patton. He also appeared as a sideman on Andrew Bird’s 1998 debut Thrills with Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire. His first proper solo outing, 2001’s National Antiseptic under the name James Mathus & His Knockdown Society, again featured Cole, Bell, and members of the North Mississippi Allstars; that same year he contributed guitar to Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea sessions.
Stop and Let the Devil Ride appeared in 2003, followed in 2005 by Knockdown South under the Jimbo Mathus name. Returning to acoustic Mississippi blues and country, he released Old Scool Hot Wings (credited to Jas. Mathus) in 2006. Also issued that year under Jimbo Mathus was the country-leaning Jimmy the Kid, originally on Artemis Records and later reissued by Hill Country Records in 2009 and Fat Possum in 2014. A Squirrel Nut Zippers reunion tour and the 2009 album Lost at Sea temporarily paused his solo work. Resuming under the Jimbo name, he issued Confederate Buddha on Memphis International Records in 2011 (reissued 2015). The six-song Blue Light EP followed in 2012, then the full-length White Buffalo in 2013.
In February 2014 Mathus and his Tri-State Coalition delivered the electric Dark Night of the Soul, while also contributing to Ian Siegal’s Picnic Sessions that year. Seeking an all-analog aesthetic for the next album, he recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, and released the loosely conceptual Blue Healer in spring 2015. Another expansive set, Band of Storms, appeared on Fat Possum Records in 2016. A fresh Squirrel Nut Zippers lineup toured and issued Beats of Burgundy in 2019; the following year Mathus returned as a solo artist with the moody, wide-ranging Incinerator. Reuniting with Andrew Bird, he co-created the primarily acoustic duo album These 13 in 2021, writing all songs and performing every instrument.
Albums
These 13
2021
Poor Lost Souls
2021
Incinerator
2019
Band of Storms
2016
Blue Healer
2015
Confederate Buddha
2015
Blue Light
2012
Jimmy the Kid
2009
KnockDown South
2005
Play Songs For Rosetta
1997
Singles
