Why You Watch Boring Music...?

You know I stalk ya'll. On the internet, I don't hang out in the bushes by your house very often. I could care less about your dog's photos or pictures of what you ate. I look at what you think about music. From this stalking I have gathered that the country music award winners were not country and that just lately someone mucked up the words to a song on national TV. Now I don't feel qualified to define what's country and I have certainly stood up in public, spiritually naked with only three chords, a guitar and just frigged that up something righteous. This weekend on New Year's Eve I was at a club called One Eyed Jacks on Toulouse Street in New Orleans and saw the Squirrel Nut Zippers who I don't think hit a wrong note at all. 

One Eye Jacks is a place I have been a couple of times now. In addition to music it hosts regular 1930s type burlesque shows, one of which opened the show. Pretty tame burlesque compared to TV these days. Might not want to bring your mom but you would surely feel comfortable with a cousin. The decor of the place is an erotic Storyville Red that harks back to the old cat houses of turn of the century birth of jazz New Orleans. If you glance real quick past the staircase you can easily imagine old school big leg fancy girls lounging lazy on the steps with a Southern Comfort neat in a slim glass.  

If you don't know the Squirrel Nut Zippers here they are. 

It's a bit of a blurry photo but there is a lot of dancing and prancing movements going on in a band that plays what I would describe as a blend of delta blues, cabaret, 1930 swing, gypsy and dixieland. Nut zipper is an old southern term for moonshine. A squirrel nut was a caramel candy from the 1890s. This group had a platinum seller in 1996  but has been only sparingly active in the 2000s. The only original members are Jimbo Mathus and drummer Chris Phillips. 

You might remember Jimbo. We saw and met him a couple of years ago in Houston. A really great show of Americana music that time but with the Zippers all stops are pulled out. One of the best showman I have recently seen and maybe considering the areas of the American songbook that are dawn on maybe best ever. 

If you say "banjo, must be bluegrass" you are wrong. That's a tenor. See Banjo Bill if you need to know more. 

Having met with Jimbo I can say he's a polite Mississippi southern gentleman. He's nice to your girl when you introduce him to her.

Here's a guy to keep an eye on. Calls himself Dr. Sick and his main instrument for the evening was violin. He played it like a madman dancing rocking and high kicking all over that stage. He's on banjo here but also played musical saw and guitar. 

New Year toast. 

The second set this band performed this evening was all new songs. Expect a new release soon. Get it. Don't listen to boring music.