Dev'lish Mary - CD

Best Buy > Compact Disc

PriceZombie > Music

While this trio's earlier efforts at minimalist Western swing tended to be tepid and tentative at times, plagued by the most obvious song choices, nearly all those drawbacks have vanished for this third release. Along with more inventive arrangements, Whit Smith's guitar echoes the rhythm genius of former Texas Playboy Eldon Shamblin and jazzman George Barnes's vinegary tone. More remarkable is Elana Fremerman's dramatically improved fiddling. While it's no small achievement to capture the unrelenting swing of former Playboy fiddlers Jesse Ashlock and Louis Tierney, she does that consistently. Assisted in spots by guest cornetist Peter Ecklund and ex-Bob Wills steel guitarist Bobby Koefer, the Hot Club include in their repertoire here a warm version of Eddy Arnold's 1948 "Just a Little Lovin'" and Wills's now-forgotten 1945 hit "You Don't Care What Happens to Me." Further ratifying their drastic progress are smart instrumental renditions of "Tchavolo Swing," Barnes's "Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield," and the Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang jazz classic "The Wild Dog." Despite the occasional bland vocal, their newfound maturity and taste is undeniable.