THE HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN

I initially decided to go to see the Hot Club of Cowtownbecause, in my confused and befuddled mind, I was convinced someone had told me that they played great bluegrass and cowpunk. As this gig got closer, I discovered that they play Western swing meets hot jazz and I started to have second thoughts... Oh my days, am I glad that I didn’t give in to those doubts.
 
Now, I know pretty much nothing about the Western swing and hot jazz traditions but that doesn’t matter. The Hot Club of Cowtown play with an infectious joy. Stage left, Jake Erwin is suited and booted like an old school Southern gent. There is an almost, dare I say, funkiness to the way he slaps and plucks his upright bass. Stage right, Whit Smith has the look of an academic and a voice that somehow reminds me of Leonard Cohen in its honeyed tones, albeit that Smith sings at a higher pitch. His playing - on a battered guitar that has a slightly Heath Robinson look to it is sublime. Centre stage, Elena James playing adds Eastern European and gypsy touches to the sound. There are even moments when her violin whinnies like a horsehead fiddle from the Mongolian steppes. Not being familiar with the songs, it is difficult to pick a highlight but Near Mrs - an amusing run through of 25 dating experiences in 25 years, that could be taken from a Broadway comedy musical - has lodged itself in my mind.

 If I am being brutally honest, I won’t listen to the Hot Club of Cowtown at home that often and there were a few moments that were just a bit too sugary and schmaltzy for this grizzled old punker but, for the most part, tonight’s gig was superb. Whilst stunning, the musicianship always served the songs and the interplay between the fiddle, guitar and bass was something else. How Whit Smith switched between chords and runs with such ease, I will never know.