They are the best of the year, and they will be performing this evening at 7 as Boulevard Music’s Summer Concert series resumes in the Courtyard of City Hall.

They are the Hot Club of Cowtown, and their specialty is western swing.

Recently the Hot Club of Cowtown was voted the Western Swing Group of the Year, topping the Ameripolitan Music Awards.

Since its beginnings in the late 1990s, Hot Club of Cowtown’s star has continued to rise as its reputation for jaw-dropping virtuosity and unforgettable live shows has become the band’s global brand.

Lauded for its “down-home melodies and exuberant improvisation” (The Times of London), the Hot Club has woven together a combination of seemingly disparate styles to its own magical effect, setting up camp “at that crossroads where country meets jazz and chases the blues away” (The Independent of London), and “conscious always that above all else, the music is for dancing and an old-fashioned good time” (The New York Times).

The band’s musical alchemy has been described as “another breathless journey in the Texas tardis” (The Times, London), while American Songwriter observed that “The excellent three players of this band could be doing anything but have chosen to honor the greats of jazz and swing with their sound.”

The Belfast Telegraph calls the Hot Club of Cowtown “a pretty much perfect country trio at the very top of their game.” When The New York Times, reviewed a live performance in New York City in 2011, the critic described the trio as armed with “an arsenal full of technique and joy.”

Along with the Hot Club’s dedicated cult following worldwide — they have toured for the U.S. State Dept. as musical ambassadors to Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Republic of Georgia and the Sultanate of Oman — certain titans of the industry have taken notice.

Bob Dylan, with whom the band toured and with whom James has toured and recorded, is a continuing inspiration. The Hot Club has opened several shows for Willie Nelson, toured with Nelson and Dylan during a summer-long stadium tour, and recently opened seven nights of Roxy Music’s sold-out “For Your Pleasure” U.K. stadium tour in early 2011.

In the U.K. the Hot Club of Cowtown continues to tour extensively and has been featured at the Glastonbury Festival and has been a returning guest on Later With Jools Holland, the Cambridge Folk Festival, and BBC Radio 2’s Radcliffe and Maconie and Bob Harris Country shows.