The second full week of February, Jimbo Mathus says he’s nervous. The wild-haired Mississippi singer-songwriter admits this anxiousness concerning the release of Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition’s Dark Night of the Soul.
“An album … most of them just sort of go out there and flop and don’t do anything,” says Mathus from his home in Taylor, Miss. “I would really like for this one to do a little something. I thought that [2013’s] White Buffalo did good. But [releasing a record is] a lot of pressure.
“It’s a hard racket, and you can’t do things as easily as you used to. I kind of want to throw up a little bit the next couple of weeks.”
Here’s the situation: Dark Night of the Soul (released Feb. 18) is the best work of Mathus’ career. And that’s saying a lot. Better than Mathus’ first few albums following the end of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the retro-swing-pop group Mathus co-founded, including Play Songs for Rosetta, a benefit record for Rosetta Patton (daughter of iconic Delta blues artist Charley Patton). Better than 2005’s Knockdown South and 2011’s Confederate Buddha. And better than the aforementioned White Buffalo (a stunner of an album). Dark Night of the Soul, with its 12 tracks, is the current apex of Mathus’ musical career.
Mathus’ career post-Zippers has been a chronicling of the music of the Deep South. Delta blues, swamp rock, traditional country, gritty soul and R&B, rock ’n’ roll and more. Mathus’ musical ambitions — along with the drive of The Tri-State Coalition (Matt Pierce on guitar, Eric Carlton on keyboards and Ryan Rogers on drums) — all merge on Dark Night of the Soul.
At times, the new album is amped-up, loose, visceral rock ’n’ roll. At others, the album is thoughtful and unhurried. The opening, title track kicks off as a piano-ballad plea for mercy before transitioning into an uncompromising rocker. “White Angel” is a soulful, greasy blues number, and “Burn the Ships” is a shotgun-blast of guitar feedback and squall best described as scorched-earth rock. “Medicine” is a Stones-like, junkie-country lament, a lost track from Sticky Fingers, complete with backing vocals from Mathus’ friends and married singers Gid and Sunny Stuckey. And there’s so much more on Dark Night of the Soul: blues-inflected honky-tonk country, the flawless devotion of “Shine Like a Diamond” and a funky stroll through the canebrake.
Connecting each tune of Dark Night of the Soul is Mathus’ love of a good melody and his poetic lyrics along with The Tri-State Coalition’s rock-solid rhythm foundation. (Drive-By Truckers bassist Matt Patton plays bass on the album; Stuart Cole, who played with Mathus in Squirrel Nut Zippers, is The Tri-State Coalition’s bassist for the current tour.)
Mathus is enthusiastic about Dark Night of the Soul. He adds the album “is jamming.” But Mathus is still a little nervous. He knows the music-industry game and the changing landscape of music in 2014.
“We’re hoping for a nice response to it,” he says. “We do real well in our region, in the Southeast and especially the Deep South. But we are trying to branch out and get more of a national presence.”
Mathus wrote more than 40 songs for Dark Night of the Soul, his ninth album, and pared the tunes down with the help of Fat Possum Records’ Bruce Watson (who also runs Fat Possum imprint Big Legal Mess Records) at Watson’s Dial Back Sound Studio just south of Taylor. (Two of the album’s songs, “White Angel” and “Tallahatchie,” were co-written by the late singer-songwriter Robert Earl Reed — a close friend of Mathus — and Carlton receives a co-songwriting credit for record closer “Butcher Bird.”)
Over the course of 2013, Mathus recorded with engineer/instrumentalist Bronson Tew at Dial Back from time to time. Watson heard each of the tunes and served as an editor and producer. “He would come in and say, ‘I like this or that,’” Mathus says.
“Songwriting is pretty easy for me because I’ve been doing it so long,” he says. “I’ve read; I’ve traveled; I’ve studied. All pertaining to the Deep South — history, mythology, literature and all the things I weave into [my music]. I look at [songwriting] as a trade or a skill that you work on and make new discoveries in because it is a creative thing that kind of never runs out. I keep at it. When ideas hit me, I jot them down, and when I get a second I’ll sit down and work it out. It’s not like I’m sitting down saying, ‘I’m going to write a song today.’ Or, ‘I’m going to write a song tomorrow.’ I don’t think of [songwriting] like that. They just hit me like a lightning bolt. That’s when I know I’m onto something. It could be based on any number of topics.”
Once Mathus and Watson decided on the core tracks of Dark Night of the Soul, other musicians were brought in for a quick, two-day recording session. Joining Mathus, The Tri-State Coalition, Patton, Tew and the Stuckeys on the album are guitarist Eric Ambel and pedal steel player Kell Kellum.
A handful of songs, including “Casey Caught the Cannonball” and “Tallahatchie,” are studio demos that Watson and Mathus thought good enough for the final product, and the affectionate “Shine Like a Diamond” is actually Mathus’ wedding vows to his wife, Jennifer (the sister of Pierce).
So Mathus is a little nervous about how Dark Night of the Soul will be received. Not by people familiar with his alchemy of Southern music. New fans. Converts to Mathus’ take on the sounds of the South. And it’s not so much that Mathus wants recognition for his music and talents. There’s more at play here with Dark Night of the Soul.
“My focus is this band and trying to get some success and respect for this band that has stuck with me and plays its ass off,” he says. “They have suffered right alongside with me on the road with little pay and sleeping five or six to a room.”
SEE THE SHOW
Catfish music for the masses? That’s what Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition play and what local music fans can expect when the band visits White Water Tavern on Friday. The show is a record-release party for Dark Night of the Soul. The music starts at 10 p.m. with a $10 cover. Follow Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition via facebook.com/jimbomathus and twitter.com/JimboMathus.