James Mathus and His Knock-Down Society - Play Songs for Rosetta (CD)

All Music Guide

Mathus, one of the masterminds behind the Squirrel Nut Zippers, here cuts it Clarksdale style for the sake of bluesman Charlie Patton's daughter, Rosetta. Not surprisingly, Rosetta doesn't see a dime from the sale of Patton's music, and Mathus saw an opportunity to give back. Give back to the music? Well, yes, but also to Rosetta herself, who helped raise Mathus from knee-pants. And the result is a righteous paella of roots music: rattling Delta style, jug band and parlor jazz with Dixieland and country-blues to boot. It's all so fresh and lively you may wonder how you lived your life without it. Dig the winking ragtime cover of Leadbelly's "Keep Your Hand's Off Her" or the country scrawl of Mathus' "Turkey Buzzard in a Pork Pie Hat."

- Tim Sheridan, All Music Guide