The Best Of - Hot Club Of Cowtown

Originally a duo, Elana James (vocals/violin) and Whit Smith (vocals/guitar), The Hot Club of Cowtown formed in New York in 1996 after discovering they had similar appreciation of the hot swing and jazz of the 1920s to the 1940s.

It was a special time when songs were plain-spoken yet literate, and when the blues was a complex, refined language of the soul. So Whit and Elana built their new musical union on the bedrock of swinging string artists such as Bob Wills, Django Reinhardt, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Stuff Smith, George Barnes and others.

After working with different bass players, the Hot Club's lineup finally solidified with the arrival of Jake Erwin on 2002s Ghost Train.

This Best-Of collection of band-picked highlights from the Hot Clubs years on HighTone Records demonstrates what made so many fans fall for them in the first place: their fiery playing, nuanced vocals and contagious enthusiasm.

1. Ida Red [Live]
2. I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me
3. Forget-Me-Nots
4. It Stops with Me
5. Chip Away the Stone
6. Star Dust
7. Secret of Mine
8. Deed I Do [Live]
9. Sleep
10. Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield
11. Always and Always
12. Fuli Tschai (Bad Girl)
13. I'd Understand Why
14. Cherokee Shuffle
15. I Had Someone Else
16. Emily
17. Tchavolo Swing
18. Exactly Like You
19. When I Lost You
20. Orange Blossom Special [Live]