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Vintage Guitar

Hot Club Of Cowtown
What Makes Bob Holler
Proper Records

Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys
and Django Reinhardt and Stephane
Grapelli’s Hot Club both blended early
20th century blues and jazz with the folk
music of their culture. Both featured
hot-shot fiddlers and guitarists, and both
operated in their classic form from 1934
to 1948-’49, so they may have been aware
of (and influenced by) each other, as well.
The Hot Club Of Cowtown pays
tribute to both bands by its name and
with a disc of Bob Wills songs played as
if members of each band showed up for
the same gig. The album was done live
in-studio, without overdubs, and the
musicianship is worthy of either Wills’
or Reinhardt’s group.

“It’s All Your Fault” shows clearly
how the two bands occupied adjoining
branches on the same musical tree, as
Elana James’ vocal and fiddle come from
the Hot Club side to meet Whit Smith’s
swing-style guitar… then things take
on a subtle European flavor on “Time
Changes Everything.”

The band is enthusiastic, not snobbish;
there’s no surreptitious wink that says
they’re just playing dress-up, trying to
be cooler than the crowd. The music Hot
Club plays is of a certain time, sure, but
it’s not outdated. And it’s going create a
lot of new fans for this band and their
musical predecessors. – Rick Allen