Katherine Whalen's Jazz Squad 
KATHERINE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

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I was born in Greenville North Carolina where we lived until I was three and my parents split up. My mom and I then moved to Carrboro, NC. She was attending UNC and I went to Carrboro Elementary. We lived next door to Johnny's Sporting Goods Store in a little blue house. I remember riding around campus on bicycles with her with my little training wheels on.

After a few years we moved to Hendersonville, NC to live with my grandmother on her farm. My grandmother, Kate Bertram, had moved there from Florida after she divorced her husband. She raised four children by herself. She had grown up in Philadelphia and Washington DC and had attended The Academy of Fine Arts in New York City. After moving to Hendersonville and buying her farm, she became active in the local theatre. She acted, directed, and was the prop mistress at different times. She made a huge impression on me with her mix of glamour and farming.

When my mom got with my step dad, we moved up the road and up a mountain to live in his little log cabin. My mom taught in a school. She taught the young kids in Children's Grammar School in Asheville, NC and I was in the big kids room. This was a really neat place that was basically run by all the parents. I went to Junior High in public school in Hendersonville and eventually my mom and I moved back to Carrboro so that she could finish graduate school and I could attend Carolina Friends School.

It was here that I started making some very interesting friends including Dexter Romweber. We began listening to records all the time and attending shows that my friends were playing. We listened to old rock and roll, soul, and rockabilly. One day my friend Crow played a live recording of Benny Goodman Orchestra for me and I was blown away. I started seeking out more jazz when I bought records at the thrift shops. I would learn songs by ear. I remember it was so fun to learn Billie Holiday songs because she sang in keys that were comfortable to me.

By this time, I had been living with my husband Jimbo Mathus, and he had been teaching me to play the banjo. One day he heard me singing I Can't Give You Anything But Love as I swept the front porch. I had never sung in front of anyone before, but I was hoping he was listening through the window. Later at dinner he casually said that he had heard me singing and that I could sing just fine. Before I knew it, we were having musicians over and learning songs and having a big old time. We named ourselves the Squirrel Nut Zippers after a candy that Jimbo and I had eaten as kids and booked our first show at Henry's Bistro in Chapel Hill.