HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN Ghost Train (Hightone) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
Despite the best efforts of producer Gurf Morlix to drag Austin’s Hot Club of Cowtown into the post-war era, the Django-jazzed throwback threesome remain firmly in a 30s headspace throughout Ghost Train. It’s a slightly livelier set of mostly original compositions this time, but even their own songs are written as period pieces in ancient vernacular, free of references to modern life, or irony. Their unexpected cover of Aerosmith’s Chip Away The Stone, given the twangy Hot Club treatment, sounds like something Bob Wills might’ve called “an oldie.” A breath of fresh air for some, a puzzling oddity for others. You can decide which applies when Hot Club of Cowtown return to the Top o’ the Senator Wednesday through Sunday (Oct 2-6).
