Jimbo Mathus and Them Durty Crooks...

We caught a show by Jimbo Mathus and his band Them Durty Crooks at Under the Volcano in Houston, Tx on a Sunday night. It was great and if you don't mind missing that evening Sunday service Jimbo and the boys make a righteous fill in. You may recall Jimbo made a platinum selling record, "Hot" in 1996 with the Squirrel Nut Zippers and recorded with Blues Guitarist Buddy Guy on his Grammy award winning album Blues Singer. SNZ is still in operation and we caught them for a New Year's Eve show in New Orleans several years ago. This was the second time we have seen Jimbo at Under the Volcano.  

If you check out his music or my blog post at the link on the SNZ you will find that Jimbo wears many musical personas. From the SNZ sound of cabaret, 1920s era swing to gypsy New Orleans jazz voodoo he shifts to a Memphis string band, Mississippi hill country blues or as in this performance just plain old country and rock like only southern boys from Mississippi, Memphis and Arkansas can play it. Lots of good country covers last night such as Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, Six Days on the Road, Third Rate Romance and a great but unusual funky version of Hank Williams Hey Good Lookin' in addition to his own hard rocking originals. Don't let anyone tell you this guy can't play guitar.      

For something different check out Jimbo. His latest release, Incinerator, seems to have some kind of "voice in the wilderness" message running through it. I guess because any music you encounter of his might seem so varied from one release to the other you may just have to check it all out. Not being easily put in a category sure makes it certain your music won't be sold at Walmart and with Jimbo that is probably ok.