Jimbo Mathus at Under the Volcano...

This past week me, Cathy and Ann caught Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition at a little night spot called Under the Volcano in Houston. It was a great gig. We have followed Jimbo for some time and he was on our must seen list. 

If you recall Jimbo was a member of a band that had some national acclaim in the mid 1990s called the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Nut Zipper is a southern term for moonshine. He is all over the place stylistically with his music from country, swing, blues, gospel and jug band.  These are southern guys from Mississippi and one thing that made this gig so great was their warmth and friendliness. 

Here Cathy gets a hug from Jimbo. Cathy is going to hug most people she meets and Jimbo is the same way. He said to her in his Mississippi drawl "Baby girl, yew doing all rite tonite?" Under the Volcano is a great listening room. The area in front of the band holds 50-75 people comfortably and has some bar stool seating. There is also a lounge area and looked to be an outside patio. I think Jimbo talked to everyone of the people there personally on the band's break. There is also a lounge area and looked to be an outside patio.    

Cathy continued her habit of stealing club posters. She got the one posted on the wall behind the band. Jimbo saw her take it and he moved all his merchandise off a road case set up as a table and dug out a different poster with the dates of the Houston gig and gave it to me. Note the nice worn Fender Mustang bass the bass player Stu has. He told me it was a 1976 model. That's the same year model as my Fender Strat. 

Here's a good evil eye I am Jamming out photo.

Jimbo was a very personable fellow. He was warm and welcoming but plain spoken. At one point he made the statement, "Lot of music out there is not about jack shit these days. My music might not be the prettiest but these songs are about something." He followed with a song about racial injustice. Me me glad I have followed this guy and supported him by buying his music.  

Speaking of support Ann and Cathy help Jimbo sell t shirts. Get you some Jimbo Mathus. He has a new cd out but the old stuff is good too.