Hot Club of Cowtown

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More About

• Elana James
• Paris (Texas)
• Paris (France)
• Whit Smith
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Whether swing is more at home in Paris, France, or Paris, Texas, the sizzling Hot Club of Cowtown does it with panache. Fiddler/singer Elana James, guitarist Whit Smith, bassist Jake Erwin, and, lately, drummer Damien Llanes juggle up the Django Reinhardt/Stephane Grappelli stuff with Bob Wills's dusty repertoire, along with jazz and pop standards, plus an increasing array of originals. While they were once predominantly an instrumental outfit, the Cowpokes have vastly widened their home on the range with the emergence of James as a first-rate vocalist, including on last year's Wishful Thinking. Smith acquits himself nicely on vocals, too, weaving some cool harmonies with James, who winds things up with a smoky version of the Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me."
Sun., May 23, 7 p.m., 2010