Western swing music developed in the 1930s and 1940s as a special blend of jazz, traditional country, and blues. While Texas and Oklahoma were the geographic birthplaces of this joining of told-time country fiddle music with the rhythmic intensity and improvisational feel of big band swing jazz, California has always been a home for some of the genre's most original and influential practitioners: Spade Cooley and Tex Williams in the mid 20th Century "golden era," and latter-day groups such as the Billy Jack Wills Band, Commander Cody's Lost Planet Airmen, and Asleep at the Wheel. Lost Weekend currently holds court as the bunch that plays the real thing in the Bay Area and beyond. Led by guitarist Don Burnham, the band offers the perfect mix of the essential ingredients: great tunes, world-class ensemble playing and soloing, spine-chilling vocals, and pulsing tempos. Don and his numerous cohorts­Paul Anastasio on fiddle, Bobby Black on steel guitar, Melissa Collard on vocals, Mark Holzinger on guitar, Bing Nathan on bass, Shota Osabe on piano, Kevin Porter on trombone, Jim Rothermel on reeds, Trey Sabatelli on drums, Bob Schulz on cornet, and Kevin Wimmer on fiddle released their first ablum, Harbor Lights and Cowboy Blues (Redoubtable Records) this year.