What Makes Bob Holler

There can be few outfits whose name describes their modus operandi quite as fittingly as Hot Club Of Cowtown. If it's not clear, Western swing is the name of this trio's game – that unlikely offspring of jazz and country that sounds like Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt holed up in a honky-tonk somewhere west of the Texan pan handle. What Makes Bob Holler is a Stetson-raising salute to Western swing's totem figure, Bob Wills. It sounds so authentic that you feel you're somehow cheating by listening to it through the medium of 21st-centuy headphones: you and a bunch of friends should be gathered around a vintage radiogram as the record is broadcast by some romantic-sounding 50,000-watt radio station. Elana James’ violin is at turns swinging and mournful, while Whit Smith's smooth-cornering guitar, plucked and strummed with equal keenness, skips along at a strong lick. And while the limited trio format always carries the threat of repetition, they sidestep this particular elephant trap. Smith and James constantly swap vocals, Smith's voice loaded with a warmth not dissimilar to that of Willie Nelson's persuasive tones, while James’ vocals combine sweetness and worldly wisdom. Their harmonies are simply wonderful.

‘It's all your fault when I'm a grandma,’ warns James at one point, ‘ifmy grandkids don't call you Grandpa.’ And if you choose to ignore Hot Club Of Cowtown, it's likewise all your fault.