http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNews/view.bg?articleid=38674

Hot Club of Cowtown hits town
By Daniel Gewertz
Friday, August 6, 2004

``It's called `The Field of Dreams Tour,' but to me it's `The 22 Days of Christmas Tour','' said Whit Smith.
     Christmas in August? Smith plays guitar for the Hot Club of Cowtown, a Texas western-swing trio with a critical reputation far larger than its commercial fame. Being chosen as the opening act for the 22-city Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson tour of America's minor league baseball stadiums is a career break beyond Hot Club's wildest expectations.
     ``When people ask us what our dreams are, we've said many times: opening for Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson. And now we get to open for both! I cannot believe it,'' said Smith, who will play Brockton's Campanelli Stadium on Sunday, with fellow Hot Clubbers Elana Fremerman (fiddle) and Jake Erwin (bass). It's the third stop on the Dylan/Nelson barnstorm.
     Hot Club is a fun, vivacious trio of sensational players. Its live 2003 CD on HighTone, ``Continental Stomp,'' was named by the Herald as a Top 10 folk disc. Yet how did this relatively obscure band get the nod?
     ``Bob Dylan's management contacted our booking agent and just offered it,'' said Smith. ``Dylan's bassist, Tony Garnier, had seen us a couple of times, and he told us Dylan knew who we were. We were blown away at that notion.''
     Knowing Dylan's musical fascinations, the matchup makes sense. Dylan has long had an essential relationship with American roots music, especially acoustic blues and early country. Hot Club's western-swing heroes, Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, reached their hit-making stride during Dylan's youth.
     Nelson has even more direct western-swing connections. ``Willie played this great western-swing bebop deluxe sort of hip lounge jazz back when he was on the Ernest Tubb TV show in the '60s,'' said Smith, who grew up in Wellfleet.
     Hot Club is enraptured by the past. Yet call them retro at your peril. For one thing, they do write a few original songs about modern life. ``And we don't wear knickers or drive a 1929 Packard,'' Smith said.
     But the past runs deep with Smith. ``I don't keep up with modern music, because I focus so hard on the '20s and '30s. When I put on a Louie Armstrong Hot 5 record, I wear it out.''
     Smith finds it a challenge channeling the musical past while living a 21st-century lifestyle. ``Reading helps,'' he said. ``I found out that Bix Beiderbecke read P.G. Wodehouse. So I've been reading Wodehouse myself.''