The Toy Hearts
Album: Flyin' Too High
Label: Woodville
Tracks: 4
Website: http://www.thetoyhearts.com

We all know about "Taking Coals to Newcastle". Well, that's just what The Toy Hearts did in the summer of 2013 when they took their brand of Western Swing to Austin, Texas [aka The Live Music Capital Of The World].

Those of us who have seen The Toy Hearts play live will know that they play two sets. The first set consists of acoustic bluegrass music, whilst the second set is electric Western Swing. Whilst in Austin, The Hearts played the latter in the Honky Tonks and bars for discerning local dance audiences and, so I believe, went down a storm.

Naturally, The Hearts wanted a memento of their time in Texas, so they went to Joe Beckham's Birdhouse Studios in Austin to record this four track EP, on which the three Johnsons [Hannah, Sophia and Stewart ] are joined by The Hot Club Of Cowtown's double bassist Jake Erwin.

On this EP, The Hearts wanted to pay tribute to some of the unsung heroes of Western Swing. The first track "What Goes Up Must Come Down" was learned from a Kay Starr album. The song comes from the 1939 musical "The Cotton Club Parade "and illustrates the link between jazz and Western Swing.Hannah's intuitive vocals float over delightfully jazzy chords from Sophia and Stewart.

"Too Late To Dream" comes from the repertoire of the underrated singer and violin prodigy Wade "Pugnose" Ray, who was, it is said, a major influence on Willie Nelson. Hannah turns in a superb vocal performance, which evokes the spirit of the late Patsy Cline.

Another underestimated singer and songwriter , Justin Tubb, provides the third song, "Five Minutes Of The Latest Blues". Justin, son of Ernest Tubb, was known as "the Mournful Troubadour" as he specialised in heartbreak songs, of which this is one example. The melancholic lyrics are offset by the telepathic trading of hot guitar and steel guitar licks between Sophia and Stewart.

The fourth and final song is by Cindy Walker. Remarkably, more than fifty of Cindy's songs were recorded by "The King Of Western Swing" Bob Wills, including this one, "Baby,That Sure Would Go Good", which appears on Bob's final album, the prophetically titled "For The Last Time" [Bob suffered a stroke on the first day of recording and died shortly afterwards].Sophia delivers some superb guitar on this track to demonstrate what a fine guitarist she is.

If like me, you are partial to a bit of Western Swing, you will love this EP. Even if you are not, you will find much to delight you in these four tracks and hopefully it will make you want to discover more about this wonderful style of music.

Peter Cowley