Coming to Cazenovia: Hot Club of Cowtown.Hot Club of Cowtown will make sure music fans are swinging Oct. 2 in Cazenovia.
The western swing sound of fiddler-singer Elana James, guitarist Whit Smith and bassist Jake Erwin has been moving people worldwide since 1998.
In 2008, James performed in the Hotel Syracuse's Persian Terrace under her own name, while Hot Club of Cowtown was taking a bit of a break. Alas -- and fortunately -- her able band mates that night ere still Smith and Erwin.
I wrote in the next morning's Post-Standard:
"James showed how well she merges the worlds of bluegrass, swing, country, big band and even some classical with a set full of rich bow work and fine picking. James' honey voice made it all the more sweet."
She told me for a story before the show: ""It's such an uncommon style of music, people really have a spontaneous response to it. If you like it, it's because you are seeing it live, or you heard it in some circuitous way. It's not a mass-media-generated style of entertainment at this point, so the audience response is always genuine. They are not just responding to media or artificial hype."
The show starts at 8 p.m. in Catherine Cummings Theater. Elbridge fingerstyle guitarist, singer and songwriter Loren Barrigar opens.
Tickets are $25.
They're available at brownpapertickets.com and 800-838-3006.