who are the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and where did it all begin?
Starting with Jim Mathus (vocals, guitar, trombone) and his wife, Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo), the couple moved to an old farmhouse in Efland, North Caroline in 1993. Spending time renovating their new home, they filled the rest of their time painting, creating puppets, and listening to old jazz records. At the same time they were deeply emerged in all these old time jazz artists, Jim was teaching Katharine how to play the banjo, while working on his own guitar technique. With all this music around them, and the fun they were having playing together, they started to have cook-outs and invite friends over to jam with them. From there, Don Raleigh (bass) and Ken Mosher (guitar, baritone, alto sax, vocals) started to play with them. The seeds for the Squirrel Nut Zippers had now been planted, and the only thing left for them was to grow and blossom. Ken, who began as the drummer for the soon-to-be Zippers, was relieved of his drumming duties when Chris Phillips came along with his sp
