Hot Club Of Cowtown – Dev’lish Mary
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Posted On November 1, 2000
On its third album, Austin trio the Hot Club of Cowtown turns up the heat on its trademark blend of tasteful jazz guitar, blazing fiddle, upright bass and crystalline vocals. Guitarist Whit Smith and violinist Elana Fremerman are joined by new bassist Matt Weiner; the record was produced by Lloyd Maines, who helped harness the band’s live energy and its well-heeled dynamics.
The disc’s sixteen tracks rely heavily on jazz standards, western swing fiddle tunes, and pop songs from the pre-WWII era. Smith’s muted playing shines on the Bob Wills band tunes “It’s My Lazy Day”, “My Life’s Been A Pleasure” and “You Don’t Care What Happens to Me”, while the tone Fremerman achieves on Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” is breathtaking. They could stand to record more originals; Fremerman and Smith each contribute a song (“I’d Understand Why” and “More Than A Dream”, respectively), and both are quite good.
Guests include cornet player Peter Ecklund (also featured on the band’s second release, Tall Tales, in 1999) and Bobby Koefer, who played steel guitar in the Bob Wills band and with Pee Wee King in the late ’40s and early ’50s. They add a tasteful spice to music while adding an air of authenticity to this post-millennium traditional country band. If you ever wanted to know what a well-oiled Texas roadhouse swing act sounded like five or six decades back, check out Dev’lish Mary.
