★★★★★
European swing jazz defines Austin's Hot Club of Cowtown from its name on down, electrifying the trio's live sets locally and abroad for more than a decade. Until
- www.austinchronicle.com
2013-06-28
★★★★★
Austin is known for a lot of great acts that have achieved international acclaim, but even more that most people don't get much exposure to. One of those is the Hot Club of Cowtown, a trio that seamlessly blends the jazz sensibilities of Reinhardt and Grappelli's Hot Club of France with the Western swing feel of the King of Western Swing himself, Bob Wills...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
Hot Club of Cowtown is one of very few bands playing today who could release an album of covers and not have it sound tired, even like a bit of a cliché. They proved this in 2011 when they released their tribute to Bob Wills "What Makes Bob Holler." While they may be better known for the Western Swing side of their music, their music is equally informed by a history of Hot Jazz. On their latest release they decided to take a foray into the more classical side of their respective histories...
- www.roughstock.com
2013-04-04
★★★★★
Hot Club of Cowtown have never been strangers to covering older songs. Their sound, a seamless blend of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli-style hot jazz and Bob Wills-style western swing, means that they can mix originals and covers and never feel like they're leaving a sepia-toned past. Usually, you can count on a few covers on their records. At worst, the band's work can sound a little too indebted to its influences, but they're usually picking pretty good folks to sound like...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-04-18
★★★★★
Before there were Beatles, before there was Elvis, before we Rocked Around the Clock, America loved and listened to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Calling himself the King of Western Swing, he had a bouncy beat and a taste of boogie woogie and a few fiddlers who could play the devil all the way back to Georgia. His sound is often regarded as the precursor to the 1950s surge of rock and roll, and when you spin Hot Club of Cowtown you're right back there with the lo-fi sound of clear channel A...
- www.ink19.com
2011-03-21
★★★★★
This long-running Austin, Texas, trio salutes Bob Wills, one if its two primary musical influences (the other being the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli) on this sweetly unassuming, live-in-the-studio trip through 14 numbers from the king of western swingâ??s repertoire. Thereâ??s a vintage sonic quality to the recording, which isnâ??t precious in the least, but befits the sprightly charm at the heart of Willsâ?? ebullient music...
- latimesblogs.latimes.com
2011-02-02
★★★★★
Western Swing, for the uninitiated, might be something of an oddly shaped pill to swallow: part country, part swing, part European Gypsy jazz with a few other bits thrown in here and there. To be fair, it's a pretty weird concoction, but one not without its assets. To begin with, from those brave enough to tackle the chops, it demands a particular level of technical brilliance that can't be sniffed at, and then there are the songs.....
- www.music-news.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Buy it from Buy the CDDownload as MP3Hot Club Of CowtownWhat Makes Bob HollerProper Records2010 Bob Wills was one of the great innovators of American popular music, a fiddle player and bandleader from Texas who mixed his country music roots with anything from jazz and blues to sentimental ballads, and became the undisputed king of western swing in the 1930s and 40s...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2010-11-01
★★★★★
The Hot Club have always had one foot in the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt, the other in the western swing of 40s Texas. Here, the New York trio offer a sweet tribute to the latter, specifically to swing king Bob Wills. Compared with Willie Nelson's recent visit to the same territory it's a low-key affair - this is no big band - but Hot Club punch above the weight of their guitar/violin/bass line-up and combined vocals...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2010-10-25
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