Hot Club of Cowtown

Western swing revivalists Hot Club of Cowtown formed in San Diego, CA in 1996; originally a duo pairing singer/violinist Elana Fremerman and singer/guitarist Whit Smith, a subsequent move to Austin, TX made room for the addition of bassist Billy Horton. Signing to Hightone, the trio issued its debut album, Swingin' Stampede!, in the fall of 1998; the follow-up, Tall Tales, appeared a year later. New bassist Matt Weiner joined Smith and Fremerman for 2000's Dev'lish Mary. Ghost Train came two years later in 2002, and it showed the group focusing more on original material and cutting back on the amount of covers. Continental Stomp followed in 2003, with Wishful Thinking arriving in 2009, and in 2011, the Hot Club finally surrendered to the obvious and released a tribute to Bob Wills, What Makes Bob Holler (the album was actually released in November of 2010 in the U.K.). ~ Jason Ankeny & Steve Leggett, Rovi