The revived Squirrel Nut Zippers bringing their stuff to Wharton

Everything old is new again—and again.

In the early 1990s, the Squirrel Nut Zippers burst upon the scene—much to their surprise—bringing back old music and reviving a fusion of swing, Delta blues, and gypsy jazz. They became the main band associated with the Swing Revival of the late 1990s.

They’ll be arriving at Wharton Center at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, accompanied by Davina and the Vagabonds.

Jimbo Mathus, the lead vocalist and founder of the group, was living near Chapel Hill with his wife Katherine Whalen. One summer he was exploring how the Mississippi blues influenced other music and expanded to other forms of early American music. They wanted to figure out how to perform it, learn it and write in that style.

“It was something we were doing for fun,” Mathus said. “We were poor. We didn’t have television or computers, we just developed in isolation. It was really just an arts project that was going to culminate in nothing. We did one show in a little French bistro in Chapel Hill for an end of summer party to show our friends what we were working on.”

By the end of that night, a local record label Merge, had offered them a record deal, calling them on the pay phone outside the bistro. They went down the next day to a do a 45.

“Before we knew it, we had a huge phenomenon,” said Mathus.

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And a huge hit they were. They would perform at the 1996 Summer Olympics, at President Clinton’s second inaugural ball. They had appearances on Prairie Home Companion, The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

The most exciting gig for the leader of the band?

“Performing on Sesame Street was an unbelievable experience,” he said. “Growing up with Public Television and with Jim Henson being from Mississippi like me—seeing Big Bird in his crate, going into Mr. Hooper’s store when no one was there, that was really cool.”

Mathus took a liberal education approach to becoming a musician. He spent years as a traveler, soaking up knowledge and then throwing himself into the study of literature, poetry, theater, First Peoples culture, philosophy, medieval alchemy and Latin.

“All the things I studied was focused toward music, but I really wanted a broader understanding of the English language to be a writer and a song writer,” Mathus said. “You have to understand how language works. Latin was a key to understanding English. Studying the poets and how they do it. It just contributed to a broader understanding of what I was going to be doing.

While in his teen years, he had recorded with such groups as “The End” and “Johnny Vomit and the Dry Heaves,” they weren’t setting out to do anything big with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. They were just performing regionally when they got a full label deal and were invited to perform in California.

“We were pulling up to this place and there were all these people dressed in retro vintage clothing, looking swell, waiting to get into the club,” Mathus said. “We wondered what they were doing and then we figured out they were there to see us.”

He said he begun to see that here were other groups doing similar types of music at the same time—that there still are.

“But for whatever reason, someone kicked the door down, I guess it was us,” Mathus said. “It was a major success. It opened the door to the other groups who were working concurrently with us in a retro feel. No one did what we did. I’m a musicologist. Swing is a narrow window. They were doing Jump Blues or other things like that.”

Mathus said it was the songwriting that put them a cut above what had gone before and what continues to set them apart form others. They have a passion for it and for the way they blend the styles, whether it is vaudeville, German cabaret, early calypso or any other form of American jazz, particularly New Orleans.

For awhile the band disbanded. One member died, he and his wife divorced, other members sued the band. Then, two years ago, Mathus revived the band, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their platinum record. People started talking to him about a reunion and he decided it would be more interesting to have a revival.

“I thought it would be interesting to me to go back to that early Zippers template and see if I could cook something up,” he said. “I’ve been working with a lot of musicians in New Orleans and a lot of these cats who were inspired by the Zippers when they were kids. I was intrigued by what kind of band I could put together and what kind of talent I could assemble. This really could be a new beginning.”

He is the only member of the original Zippers to still be performing and he’s expanded the orchestration so that there is now a nine-piece band that allows him to arrange in more complex and creative ways. The band has a male and female lead, a violinist, a three-piece horn section, a bass and piano and a rhythm section.

They’re performing old pieces and new materials. They’ll start out doing the ones that were the strongest for them and then move on to more complicated and advanced pieces. Mathus said they’ll be doing hot jazz, calypso, New Orleans jazz and music with theatrically provocative lyrics.

“It’s in the continuum of what we started with a lot more experience and, frankly, a lot more control of the chaos.

“In the parameters of where we are, hot jazz, calypso, New Orleans Jazz, theatrical provocative lyrics, it’s in the continuum of what we started. With a lot more experience frankly, a lot more control of the chaos.”

But all technicalities aside, Mathus said the show is one designed to make people feel good. He said it is wildly entertaining and infused with a lot of humor, dance and color. It’s designed to be a family experience.

“Tell people we’re bringing the joy back,” Mathus promised.

Davina and the Vagabonds

They’re old. They’re new. They take the American songbook and make it original.

Davina and the Vagabonds is an acoustic ensemble that started as a down and dirty blues band in 2005 and have grown to an international reputation. They’ll be arriving in East Lansing and performing with the Squirrel Nut Zippers on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Founder Davina Lozier leads the ensemble on piano and vocals with other members playing trumpet, trombone, drums and upright bass. They combine blues with New Orleans charm, Memphis soul swagger, dark theatrical moments that evoke Kurt Weill and tender gospel passages.

They’re a perfect matchup for the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

“It’s so wonderfully strange for me,” Lozier said. “I have loved them for many years. Jimbo is a creative force and I am honored to get to see him in action.”

Describing their music as honest, heartfelt, vampy and theatrical, she said it’s taken them around the world to meet all kinds of people. It’s also created a concert she said is unique in its pairing.

“There is no other pair up like it! The entertainment will be hard to come by ever again. Two bands jam packed with excitement, laughter, and level A musicianship.”

If you go

What: Squirrel Nut Zippers and Davina and the Vagabonds

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18

Where: Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center, MSU Campus, Wharton Center

Tickets: $19 and up www.whartoncenter.com