JIMBO MATHUS

White Buffalo

jimbomathus.com

Back in the ’90s, while leading Squirrel Nut Zippers, this Mississippi native scored a novelty hit with “Hell,” a hot-jazz tune that snuck onto alt-rock radio. A decade after the Zippers’ demise, Mathus isn’t doing anything quite as radical or conceptual. White Buffalo is a genre record, the genre being Southern—a sweaty, twangy sound informed by country, folk, gospel, soul and good ol’ rock ’n’ roll. The disc opens with “In the Garden,” a backwoods Adam and Eve parable that warns, “If you see something wicked, don’t look it in its eyes.” The narrator on the frisky, Stonesy roadhouse rocker “Fake Hex” ought to have taken that advice, though heartache’s hardly cramping his style.