How do you warm up on frigid frosty Friday in February in Toronto? With some hot music at Toronto’s iconic listening room Hugh’s Room Live. The Western Swing Authority’s return engagement at Hugh’s Room was a show for the ages. The night was a typically cold February night in Hogtown but the searing licks and the powerful vocals and an enthusiastic crowd suddenly made the room Texas Hot.

The Western Swing Authority’s album is called Big Deal and the band is the Real Deal. Every member of this band is at the top of their field in Canadian music, a virtual supergroup. Drummer Jimmy Boudreau puts the swing in Western swing, the bass player for this night was Mark McIntrye filling in Matthew Lima, guitar wizard Paul Chapman is one the best you’ll hear on the other side of border, Ed “Pee Wee Charles” Ringwald on steel guitar has won CCMA’s top award so many times he’s no longer eligible and has inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and spent 18 years with Gordon Lightfoot, the twin fiddle pairing of Shane Guse and Dan Howlet give WSA that authentic Western swing feel that is so hard to produce on stage.

On this Toronto February night, the 25 degrees below zero temperature was bone chilling and teeth chattering but inside the city’s iconic venue Hugh’s Room Live it was Texas hot. From the moment the band hit the stage toes were tapping, hands were clapping and bodies were swaying in swing time. The seven-piece group featuring twin fiddles, Shane Guse and Dan Howlett, guitar whiz Paul Chapman, upright bassist, Matthew Lima, drummer Gary Craig, who did a remarkable job subbing for regular drummer Jimmy Boudreau, steel guitar legend Ed (Pee Wee Charles) Ringwald and vocalist extraordinaire Stacey Lee Guse are in stratosphere all their own.