Album · Squirrel Nut Zippers
Perennial Favorites by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Perennial Favorites is an album by Squirrel Nut Zippers, released in 1998. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 2 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Suits Are Picking Up The Bill”, on 2 lists with a best position of #68.
Perennial Favorites, the Squirrel Nut Zippers' 1998 album on Mammoth, was cut at Ken Mosher's studio in Pittsboro, North Carolina, with the swing revival at full boil and the Chapel Hill band still riding high on "Hell", Tom Maxwell's 1996 hit. Maxwell and Jimbo Mathus sing and play guitar, Katharine Whalen sings and picks banjo and ukulele, Chris Phillips drums, and Je Widenhouse and Stuart Cole were in the ranks by now.
It's hot jazz, Delta blues, gypsy jazz and klezmer tossed in one pot, and AllMusic heard the menace and hedonism under the fun that the other neo-swing acts tended to forget. Not everyone bought it: Entertainment Weekly found Whalen's Billie Holiday phrasing close to parody, and Spin wrote it off as cartoon music. The Houston Press called it their finest and most ambitious set yet, and record buyers agreed, sending it to number 18 on the Billboard 200 and on to gold.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Perennial Favorites on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suits Are Picking Up The Bill | 2 | #68 | – | 1998 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.