Confederate Buddha - CD

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The Confederate Buddha, the Katfish King, people have a lot of names on a riverboat. Just a little time to dream, dark and murky, only to emerge fire and brimstone. Lightening and kudzu wisdom and wine oh... He's feeling fine, besides either you look cool with a gold tooth or you do not. So listen to the Mississippi mystic and believe... Chris Robinson/The Black Crowes

Jim Dickinson was once called Jimbo Mathus 'the singing voice of Huck Finn.' Outside the South, Jimbo is likely best known as the ringleader of the hyper-ragtime outfit Squirrel Nut Zippers, or as the catalyst Buddy Guy's Grammy-winning Blues Singer album. In his native Mississippi, and throughout the South, Mathus is recognized as the prolific songwriter of born-in-the-bone Southern music. Think Delta highways, bowling-pin Budweisers and innerplanetary honky-tonk for the masses. He recorded Confederate Buddha with his current band, The Tri-State Coalition, describing the sound as '...a true Southern amalgam of blues, white country, soul and rock-n-roll.' The idea behind the album s title stemmed from Jimbo's interest in regional folklore and art forms. 'I got the (Alan) Lomax book [The Land Where The Blues Began] and found myself going where he went and those same places, the same churches are still there and I was finding these weird country people who are backwoods bodhisattvas oracles, rural sages who are so wise and of the past projecting an image of both peace and rebellion.' 'Confederate Buddha' is the first album I've written and recorded with a band in mind, he notes, having previously based his recordings around songs rather than players and says the result has a 'southern rock feel to it.' For the past two years, he s been with these same cats fellow Mississippians Justin Showah (bass, vocals) who also co-produced and co-engineered and Eric Carlton (keyboards), Arkansan Matt Pierce (guitar) and drummer Austin Marshall from Missouri a/k/a the 'Tri' in 'Tri-state.' The result is a sound that s coherent and rock solid. These core players were augmented by guests Forest Parker, Billy Earhart, Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson, Paul Taylor, Paul Morelli, Steve Selvidge, Lightnin' Malcolm and Brian Ledford along with Jennifer Pierce Mathus, Gin Gin Carlton and Rosamond Posey, a/k/a The White Angels. Confederate Buddha recasts Jimbo as a latter day Siddhartha, journeying forth into a (Southern) world of wonders and revelations.