How do they like to
swing in Azerbaijan?
COUNTR
W
ho knows? But the recently rejuvenated Hot Club Of
Cowtown do.
The story begins with a classic musical travel adventure: an
ad in the music section of New York City’s Village Voice. In
the mid-’90s Elana James was looking to join a “gigging
Y AMERIC
band” when Whit Smith answered her ad.
More than a decade later, the Hot Club of Cowtown
has grown to be the most globe-trotting, hard-swinging
Western Swing trio on the planet. From early days busking
for tips in San Diego, the band has grown and developed
into a formidable international sensation. The Hot Club’s
ever-growing presence on the international festival scene
ANA
has grown with its relentless touring over the years
alongside the release of five critically acclaimed CDs
released in USA, Japan and the UK.
Today, after a two-year hiatus, the Hot Club of
Cowtown has resumed touring and recording in
anticipation of a forthcoming release in the Autumn
of 2008.
Some things haven’t changed. The band--Elana James
on violin and vocals, Whit Smith on guitar and vocals,
and Jake Erwin on bass and vocals--still swings
harder than ever as they continue to develop their
unique, ever-changing sound.
In the United States, the Hot Club of Cowtown are among the youngest members ever to
be inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, in 2006 they also toured as musical ambassadors for the
US State Department and were honored to be the first American band ever to tour in Azerbaijan. These days, tours with Bob
Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Mavericks and others keep the Hot Club of Cowtown busy dazzling new audiences both nationally
and internationally throughout much of the year.
When they went their separate ways in 2005, they expected that the Hot Club
would only ever be heard again on their old records.
“(Whit) was just sort of tired of having to be in the band,” James says, “and at
the end of 2004 he said he didn’t want to do it anymore. So that was it, we were
fairly certain. Everyone scattered in the four directions and people had time to play
out their scenarios.” For James, that included playing in Bob Dylan’s touring band
and putting out a solo album, while Smith toured with his own combo, the Hot
Jazz Caravan.
“It had a lot to do with associates we worked with,” Smith says of the break.
“We had a cliché bad manager that came out of a David Lynch movie. There
were all the personal stresses of being together all the time. We’d done it for so
long, maybe we didn’t have quite the right perspective on it. Some relief time
was required.”
The band never officially broke up, and occasionally played
together as the Hot Club during the hiatus. In late 2006
they got together for a U.S. State Department-sponsored
tour of the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan (the first American band to ever tour there), Armenia and
Georgia. This autumn, they’re heading for Europe for their first concerts in London, Berlin and Paris.
Devoted travelers all, James, Smith and Erwin (their fourth and longest-serving bassist is an Oklahoma
native who has been with the band since 2000) agree that it’s important to get out of town to have a
successful career as working musicians — sometimes, way, way out of town.
Eventually, their personal and musical chemistry exerted a gravitational pull that they couldn’t ignore.
The Best Of...
“After about a year and a half I just started playing with Elana again,” Smith says. “You just get some
Hightone
time away from each other and you realize no one’s keeping you from doing anything.”
0984
Andy Washington
Properganda 0 7
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