(c) 2004 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd

Hot Club Of Cowtown"s Whit Smith tells Charlie Melvin about the hassles of
air travel

Tonight sees the third Birmingham appearance in less than a year by
American country-swing trio Hot Club Of Cowtown. After opening for The
Mavericks at Symphony Hall last November, they returned in May to headline
at Balsall Heath"s Ceol Castle in their own right. Now they"re back again
for this evening"s show at The Glee Club in Hurst Street"s Arcadian Centre,
as part of this year"s Jazz Festival.

Guitarist Whit Smith, violinist Elana Fremerman and bass player Jake Erwin
have been taking the music scene by storm since the release of their fourth
album Continental Stomp. Recorded live in front of an enthusiastic hometown
audience in Austin Texas, the CD perfectly captures the band"s infectious
marriage of swinging gypsy jazz and good-time cowboy hokum.

As Hot Club travel the world, their valuable instruments are always the
subject of interest from over-vigilant airport security. "I have to answer
a lot of questions," guitarist Smith smiles.

"I play a 1925 Gibson L5 acoustic guitar with an early 1940s DeArmond
pickup. I have a special case for the guitar and, knock on wood, they
haven"t cut it in half yet. But it has been lost. Two or three times last
summer it was lost and I had to borrow another guitar until it showed up
again. I have a 1938 Gibson amplifier that I take on the plane as hand
luggage, it fits under a seat or in the overhead compartment.

"I have to travel with it because it would tear itself apart in the hold,
even if it was in a good case. Elana plays a 1962 Mittenwald violin and she
always gets cornered at security. They take the instrument out and
mishandle it. She"s constantly having to lecture people on how to handle a
violin and then, of course, they pat her down thoroughly, because she"s
coming across as someone who"s telling them what to do.

"Jake has a case for his bass the size of King Tut"s sarcophagus which is
covered with security and airline travel stickers. There could be a body in
there, I think that"s why they treat it so carefully. Travelling is funny -
it"s one of the things in life where you don"t get credited for your
experiences.

"It"s like starting over every day. You show up at that gate and you have
to explain that, yes in fact it does fit onto an aeroplane. You have to
walk "em though it. But that"s what we get paid for, all that kind of
stuff, trying to get to the show. When we get to the stage the music is
free."

Among their repertoire of vintage jazz classics, Hot Club Of Cowtown have
recorded a number of pieces by 1920s violin and guitar duo Joe Venuti and
Eddie Lang, whom they admire. "I love listening to Eddie Lang and Elvin
Chamblin, a Western Swing guitar player in the Bob Wills band who was
influenced by Lang," Smith says.

"I"m also very interested in George Van Epps and Alan Reuss, who"s just
about my favourite guitar player in the world. They had a very
sophisticated style of playing rhythm - the thing I love about Eddie Lang
is his rhythm playing, and that sort of disappeared after the invention of
the electric guitar. A different kind of rhythm guitar developed with the
use of amplifiers.

"George Barnes is my major influence - his name doesn"t turn up all that
much. He was recording electric guitar, very complicated jazz lines,
playing like a clarinet or something, well before Charlie Christian. It"s
just a shame history hasn"t been able to remember everybody."

Hot Club Of Cowtown can be seen tonight at The Glee Club, The Arcadian
Centre, Hurst Street, Birmingham. 7.30pm. Tickets £12 / £13 adv £14 door.
Tel 0870 241 5093. Continental Stomp is released by Hightone Records.