Hot Club of Cowtown

Matt Hutchinson · Post by **Matt Hutchinson** » 10 Oct 2000 3:48 am

Has anybody seen this band? They played in the UK at the Cambridge Folk Festival in the summer & I saw them 3 times. It's a blend of Western Swing, Jazz standards and bluegrass style songs (I'm describing it as best I can with my limited knowledge of these styles) - standup bass, fiddle and jazz/swing guitar. Check 'em out if you get a chance, they're great.
Matt

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Bennett S-10 (3+4)
Fender 75

Ricky Davis · Post by **Ricky Davis** » 10 Oct 2000 9:49 am

Oh yeah I know them well. They live here and when not on tour; they play regularly in the Austin Area. They are very very very good and renditions of Western Swing is as good as it gets from "Hot Club of Cowtown".
They are good friends and the nicest group of three you could meet.
Ricky

Iain · Post by **Iain** » 11 Oct 2000 1:14 am

yeah- saw them in Chicago. They're excellent, sound full for a 3 piece and look cheery.
I'm still not sure what to stick my "Hot Club" sticker (free with album) onto, though ...

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 11 Oct 2000 3:57 pm

The one time I saw them live was in September
1998. They were sitting in woth some locals at Threadgills and Elena seemed a little ackword. However they sounded great on the opry 10-1

Develish Mary is a good album.

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Steve England · Post by **Steve England** » 12 Oct 2000 11:51 am

Don't much care for them I'm afraid. The three piece format starts to get real stale real quick when you see them. The music needs more depth to ir than they can give it.
On the plus side though, they did use Bobby Koefer on their latest CD<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve England on 12 October 2000 at 12:57 PM.]</p></FONT>

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 12 Oct 2000 3:11 pm

Whit is a competent guitarist with a lot of arcane knowledge of old tunes, but he comes up short on the vocals department. The band basically does not have a strong singer, and when you're a three-piece, well...

Elana has excellent technique on the violin, but she comes from the classical training and this western swing is simply new to her. So if she seemed awkward, she was probably a little off her range repertoire-wise, so to speak.

To me, they come off as cutesy, quite talented youngsters who for now take their own hype a little too seriously and need a bunch of years in honky tonks where the band doesn't look down their noses on patrons who request songs using swear words in their sentences.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 12 Oct 2000 11:36 pm

I used to play with Whit in NYC on occasion. Great guy who loves his guitar. I'm glad to see him doing well.

Bob

Joel Glassman · Post by **Joel Glassman** » 16 Oct 2000 9:54 am

I thought they were fun, and liked Whit's playing. Elana is a good musician too, but she played only the "famous Western Swing violin solos" note-for-note on every tune (ie. Johnny Gimble etc.) This drove me nuts. I doubt anyone else knew those solos.
Every once in a while I'd hum a unison line into my date's ear. She was amused.