The big band/swing/jazz/alternative rock band Squirrel Nut Zippers kicks off 2017 at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, with a "Hot" show on Thursday, Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m. The dance floor will be open.
As a band, Squirrel Nut Zippers rejoices at the difficulty people have pigeonholing its unmistakable sound. A perpetually evolving, hybrid-stew of Southern roots traditions, blues and jazz, the Zippers has always flirted with a muse most concerned with ghosts, love gone wrong, fever-dreams and stories unearthed from days past.
Aptly tagged "'30s punk" by one critic, NPR's "Morning Edition" might have said it best: "It's not easy to categorize the music of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, except that it's hot."
In 2016 the Squirrel Nut Zippers celebrated the 20th anniversary of the revolutionary band's most celebrated and commercially successful album Hot. Originally released in the summer of 1996, Hot was the follow up to the band's critically acclaimed debut The Inevitable. By this time the group had already established a substantial live following across the country thanks to early support from NPR, college radio and non-commercial stations. Hot wound up selling more than 1.3 million copies.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of Hot, the band's visionary creator Jimbo Mathus, along with founding member and partner Chris Phillips (drums), have crafted a brand new stage show including several leading musicians from New Orleans to serve up the band's unique musical flavor, which owes its roots to that city. The current tour, launched in July 2016, finds Squirrel Nut Zippers on tour for the first time in almost seven years.
"We are humbled and incredibly excited by the initial Zippers shows since the re-launch," bandleader Mathus said in a press release. "It's not a reunion, it's a revival! The band includes cutting edge talent from New Orleans and the songs have been brought to life in an exciting new way. But most things remain unchanged... An amazing experience for young and old."
Plans are underway for the band to soon record a new album, which would be the first studio offering in 17 years.
View Squirrel Nut Zippers live in concert in Sept. 2016 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSwIotiUqPQ.
Tickets for the Squirrel Nut Zippers are $36 and $46 are available on-line at www.durangoconcerts.com or call 247-7657, or visit the Ticket Office inside the Durango Welcome Center at Eighth Street and Main Avenue in downtown Durango. All sales final.
