Vocalist Gardner explores the association between jazz and country, the Great American Songbook, and cowboy movie stars. Similar territory was mined by Asleep At The Wheel and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, but it goes back decades earlier.

“Cow Cow Boogie” dates to the 1942 recording by pianist Freddie Slack with singer Ella Mae Morse – its composers having their hands in jazz and rhythm-and-blues tunes, including “I’ll Remember April” and “House Of Blue Lights.”

“Call Of The Canyon,” from the Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra repertoire, features a lovely, spare acoustic solo by Justin Poindexter, who overdubs electric guitar and lap steel on “Along The Navajo Trail.” “Silver On The Sage” finds him adding mandolin. “I’m An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)” was originally a swinging Bing Crosby vehicle, but Gardner got it from her parents’ Hicks album, and stays close to Lickette Maryann Price’s well-known reading.

Produced by Eli Wolf, known for his work with singer Norah Jones and keyboard icon Herbie Hancock, the program benefits from the intimate small-group setting – just guitar, bass, and drums – never truer than on “Twilight On The Trail,” which has previously been recorded by Dean Martin, Sam Cooke, and others. Here and throughout, Gardner’s performances are wonderfully restrained and melodic.

This article originally appeared in VG’s September 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.