Something magical happens when the sultry hot jazz made famous by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli meets the hard-driving Western swing sound pioneered by Bob Wills and early string bands of the American Southwest. The ear-catching result of this surprising marriage is the Hot Club of Cowtown, the effervescent Austin-based trio beloved for more than two decades by devoted fans across the United States and around the world. Romantic and rhythmic, happy-making and heart-breaking, sophisticated and elegant while still down-to-earth and rugged, the Hot Club of Cowtown now returns with its much-anticipated eleventh album, an enticing new collection of original compositions (plus a few inspired standards) entitled Wild Kingdom.
Whit Smith, the band’s dexterous guitarist, embodies the spirit of early jazz players like Charlie Christian in both his vintage gear and his high-flying fretwork. Upright bass player Jake Erwin is a rhythm powerhouse who keeps the beat with determination and gusto, slapping that bass like it owes him money. Elana James rounds out the trio with sweet, inviting vocals and the astounding fiddle playing that leaves audiences reeling.
Peel back the wrapper on Wild Kingdom and you’ll find the first of several songs by James, “My Candy,” which sets the stage for the kind of retro-simplicity that the band’s fans love and expect as Elana does some sweet talking about how she loves her candy more than any old tootsie roll or Charleston chew. James’s waltz “Last Call” is a drinking-song melody with beautiful lyrics about finally being called home by God. James’s “Near Mrs.” is a classic list song a la “All My Exes Live in Texas” (and includes a surprising name-drop of a famous country star you won’t want to miss!), while the chugging country rhythm of “Tall Tall Ship” offers an irrepressible sing-along almost divinely bestowed for a drive up the California coast with the top down. “Rodeo Blues” uses the metaphor of the pickup rider in a rodeo as the savior in a relationship and “High Upon the Mountain” paints a picture of nature’s power to make us look inward and consider the stillness around us in contrast to the turmoil in our lives. “Before the Time of Men” is a complex mix of central Asian flair and manouche jazz that celebrates the magic of what a horse-hair instrument can do while mourning the incredible loss of life and beauty that takes place when man dominates creatures and land.
While James’s offerings for the most part tend to look toward romantic love and relationships, albeit sometimes in the afterlife, Whit Smith’s originals embrace the existential and offer a tart complement: “Caveman” draws a swinging portrait of the titular prehistoric character who becomes famous for his cave paintings. In “Billy the Kid,” we travel in time to the instant the famous outlaw’s life flashes before his eyes as he’s gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett, and Smith’s “Ways of Escape” is a uniquely bluesy reminder to get back on track with our most cherished dreams, while in “Easy Money” Smith shrugs off a gold-digging girlfriend he can’t help but love.
Three band favorites also made the cut for Wild Kingdom, each showing off the trio’s intricate, exuberant arrangements of three-part vocal harmonies and guitar and fiddle twin lines, including the 1930s theme from the eponymous film “Three Little Words,” a swinging version of the traditional “Loch Lomond” which rides a wistful folk melody through the steep sides of the blustery Scottish highlands, and an inspired cover of Les Paul and Mary Ford’s “How High the Moon.”
Its twenty-fifth year find The Hot Club of Cowtown continuing to spin gold from its inspirations, reinventing and improvising its way around the world and back again. They don’t plan to stop any time soon.
Something magical happens when the sultry hot jazz made famous by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli meets the hard-driving Western swing sound pioneered by Bob Wills and early string bands of the American Southwest. The ear-catching result of this surprising marriage is the Hot Club of Cowtown, the effervescent Austin-based trio beloved for more than two decades by devoted fans across the United States and around the world. Romantic and rhythmic, happy-making and heart-breaking, sophisticated and elegant while still down-to-earth and rugged, the Hot Club of Cowtown now returns with its much-anticipated eleventh album, an enticing new collection of original compositions (plus a few inspired standards) entitled Wild Kingdom.
Whit Smith, the band’s dexterous guitarist, embodies the spirit of early jazz players like Charlie Christian in both his vintage gear and his high-flying fretwork. Upright bass player Jake Erwin is a rhythm powerhouse who keeps the beat with determination and gusto, slapping that bass like it owes him money. Elana James rounds out the trio with sweet, inviting vocals and the astounding fiddle playing that leaves audiences reeling.
Peel back the wrapper on Wild Kingdom and you’ll find the first of several songs by James, “My Candy,” which sets the stage for the kind of retro-simplicity that the band’s fans love and expect as Elana does some sweet talking about how she loves her candy more than any old tootsie roll or Charleston chew. James’s waltz “Last Call” is a drinking-song melody with beautiful lyrics about finally being called home by God. James’s “Near Mrs.” is a classic list song a la “All My Exes Live in Texas” (and includes a surprising name-drop of a famous country star you won’t want to miss!), while the chugging country rhythm of “Tall Tall Ship” offers an irrepressible sing-along almost divinely bestowed for a drive up the California coast with the top down. “Rodeo Blues” uses the metaphor of the pickup rider in a rodeo as the savior in a relationship and “High Upon the Mountain” paints a picture of nature’s power to make us look inward and consider the stillness around us in contrast to the turmoil in our lives. “Before the Time of Men” is a complex mix of central Asian flair and manouche jazz that celebrates the magic of what a horse-hair instrument can do while mourning the incredible loss of life and beauty that takes place when man dominates creatures and land.
While James’s offerings for the most part tend to look toward romantic love and relationships, albeit sometimes in the afterlife, Whit Smith’s originals embrace the existential and offer a tart complement: “Caveman” draws a swinging portrait of the titular prehistoric character who becomes famous for his cave paintings. In “Billy the Kid,” we travel in time to the instant the famous outlaw’s life flashes before his eyes as he’s gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett, and Smith’s “Ways of Escape” is a uniquely bluesy reminder to get back on track with our most cherished dreams, while in “Easy Money” Smith shrugs off a gold-digging girlfriend he can’t help but love.
Three band favorites also made the cut for Wild Kingdom, each showing off the trio’s intricate, exuberant arrangements of three-part vocal harmonies and guitar and fiddle twin lines, including the 1930s theme from the eponymous film “Three Little Words,” a swinging version of the traditional “Loch Lomond” which rides a wistful folk melody through the steep sides of the blustery Scottish highlands, and an inspired cover of Les Paul and Mary Ford’s “How High the Moon.”
Its twenty-fifth year find The Hot Club of Cowtown continuing to spin gold from its inspirations, reinventing and improvising its way around the world and back again. They don’t plan to stop any time soon.
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