Hot Club of Cowtown

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Esprit de Django et Stephane Festival
Saturday, January 28, 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:00 pm)
Teen Hot Club opens
$24.50 advance / $26.50 at door
Purchase tickets online

Start: January 28 8:00 pm

Hot Club of Cowtown

The Esprit de Django et Stephane Festival continues with the globe-trotting, fiery-fingered Western swing trio, Hot Club of Cowtown.

Guitarist Whit Smith, fiddler Elana James, and bassist Jake Erwin play Western swing with their own unique brand of high-tempo energy and jazzy improvisations. The recordings of Western swing legend Bob Wills are a major inspiration for their repertoire and style–witness their new CD, What Makes Bob Holler–but the trio combines Will's western swing with the legendary string jazz sounds of Quintette du Hot Club de France, along with a generous helping of foot-stompin' fiddle jigs and reels.

Hot Club has amassed a large cult following with their sonic personification of joy. Years spent crisscrossing the U.S. in a silver Ford van through a landscape where local traditions are becoming more and more diluted has only increased the band's devotion to keeping their music sincere, free of irony, and focused on a simpler time. So come on and join the fun tonight, and don't even try to keep your feet still!

The Freight swings like it's never swung before when the Esprit de Django et Stephane Festival sets the stage sizzling with three nights of music and three days of workshops inspired and influenced by the legendary European jazz band, Quintette du Hot Club de France. Fronted by gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and virtuoso violinist Stephane Grappelli, the Paris-based combo revolutionized jazz in the 1930s and '40s by applying an irresistible, string-fueled propulsion to the more sedate big-band sound of the time. This weekend's festival showcases some modern heirs of Django's and Stephane's hot jazz sound.