Hot Club of Cowtown: Ghost Train : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If Austin's Hot Club of Cowtown never recorded an original song, they'd still never want for steady gigs. As long as America has National Public Radio and even the smallest appetite for retro music, there's always going to be room for a fun little trio of ace musicians playing faithful covers of Western swing and acoustic string jazz classics. But with their fourth album, Ghost Train, the Hot Club push the envelope with a brace of originals (by guitarist Whit Smith and fiddler Elana Fremerman, who take turns singing) that prove as impressive as their instrumental chops. Fremerman shines brightest with the charming "Forget-Me-Nots," a sweetheart of a cowgirl anthem with an effortlessly catchy melody, and "Home," a bucolic slice of cocktail lounge. Smith offers more subdued, darker fare, but it all meshes as seamlessly as his fluid bursts of Django Reinhardt-inspired guitar solos, Fremerman's tasteful fiddle flourishes and Jake Erwin's rhythmic upright bass. Stylistically, Ghost Train leans more towards pre-WWII Parisian cafe music than Bob Wills, but they do get their "ah-hahs!" with the traditional instrumental "Cherokee Shuffle." But then they deliver an irony-free version of Aerosmith's "Chip Away the Stone" as a lonesome Hank Williams-style lament. From start to finish, Ghost Train proves with the right amount of talent, you can always teach old styles a few new tricks.

RICHARD SKANSE
(Sept. 17, 2002)