A vocalist with a light twangy timbre, breezy sense of swing, and a gift for conveying the emotional essence of a lyric, Retta Christie delivers an unforgettable evening with reed expert David Evans and piano legend Dave Frishberg (who’s responsible for some of the American Songbook’s most witty chapters, though that facet of his work isn’t represented here). Harking back to a time when Western swing bands, cowboy troubadours, urbane big bands, and suave pop singers often interpreted the same material, Christie has forged a fun and swinging synthesis of America’s pre-World War II popular music.

“Retta Christie has a singular knack for that curious, vastly 

entertaining form of Americana that swings in the recesses 

between jazz and country.  Think Jimmie Rodgers, 

dustbowl prophets like Cowboy Bob Wills or Floyd Tillman, 

or the flatland plains poetry of Hoagy Carmichael, and 

you’re in the neighborhood.  Fans of Irving Berlin saloon 

songs will be swinging till the cows come home.  Secret 

weapons: Dave Evans on sax/clarinet and the hip 

avuncularity of Dave Frishberg at the keys.”