Squirrel Nut Zippers at Mystic Theatre

Jimbo Mathis (vocals, guitar, trombone) and Katherine Whalen (vocals, banjo) formed Squirrel Nut Zippers in 1993 in the Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Settling in the nearby small town of Efland, the couple renovated a farmhouse, where they pursued various arts and crafts, and eventually the band fell into shape as Mathis and Whalen met local citizens like Don Raleigh (bass) and Ken Mosher (guitar, saxophone, vocals) who shared an interest in hot jazz. Before long, Chris Phillips (drums, percussion), Tom Maxwell (vocals, guitar, baritone saxophone, clarinet), and Je Widenhouse (trumpet) were added to the band, which was now named after an old-fashioned candy bar, Squirrel Nut Zippers. The group soon made its live debut in Chapel Hill and within a few months had developed a large fan base throughout the South.

Squirrel Nut Zippers had the good fortune to make it to the big leagues at the same time the swing revival of the 1990s crested. Although the group’s roots stretched far beyond the Rat Pack– they were informed by New Orleans jazz, hot dance music, Harlem jazz, and other jumping music of prewar America — they nevertheless benefited from the lounge revival, which helped lift their 1996 album “Hot,” and its accompanying single “Hell,” into the Billboard charts. Squirrel Nut Zippers kept touring into the early 2000s, after which they went on hiatus.

Leader Jimbo Mathus revived the group in 2008 for a live album but it wasn’t until 2018 that they released a new album, Beasts of Burgundy. The reconstituted band kept rolling into the next decade with 2020’s “Lost Songs of Doc Souchon.”