RALEIGH, NC - Katharine Whalen, former frontperson in the roaring nineties swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers, is planning her return to music following a short hiatus with her first solo album in seven ...

“Stylistically, I keep the music going in a lot of different directions,” says Katharine Whalen, former singer and banjo-picker of the celebrated Squirrel Nut Zippers. Well, that’s an understatement.

Call it a revival of the swing revival. Two decades after the Squirrel Nut Zippers ’ breakout album “Hot” — which included the still-ubiquitous oddball single “Hell” and sparked the late-1990s swing ...