The Best of the Hot Club of Cowtown Gets 4 Stars from the London Times

The world’s greatest little Texan swing band winds up its UK tour this week, but if you missed the dates, this retrospective goes a long way towards capturing the all-or-nothing ethos. Elana James’s vivacious fiddle solos and vocals, Whit Smith’s cunningly understated guitar phrasing and the delicious thump of Jake Erwin’s slap-bass make a formidable package, and the journeys back to Tin Pan Alley’s golden era are handled with a rare sense ofjoie de vivre. They even have the courage to dip into the Aerosmith songbook, on a careworn treatment of Chip Away the Stone that is stripped of metal machismo. Recommended for cowpokes and lovers of Django alike.

Posted 09/22/2008

<< Back