Wishful Thinking

Wishful Thinking is the western swing-hot jazz trio Hot Club of Cowtown’s first new studio album in seven years, a layoff that saw singer and fiddler Elana James join Bob Dylan’s band. The group nonetheless sounds tight and focused, even given the newly added presence of drummer Damien Llanes—a first for a Hot Club album. The track list finds the group’s strong originals slotting neatly between covers like the opening tear through Bob Wills’ “Can’t Go On This Way” and the late-night closer, the Gershwins’ “Someone to Watch Over Me.”