But I do know music, and a delightful slab of it came my way on CD recently, this time from that veritable Paris of the South Seas, Wellington. And indeed, Hot Club Sandwich are a Wellington band specialising in the continental swing of the Quintette du Hot Club de France which they liberally season with a dash of Bob Wills’ western swing and a scattering of blues and rockabilly. Their new album is called Ridin' With Bob. HCS are an interesting band because they are basically a duo – singer/acoustic guitarist Andrew London and bass player/pianist Terry Crayford - who add simpatico players to the mix each outing. They have played in Tauranga on a few occasions, once with fiddle virtuoso Fiona Pears, other times with blues harp wizard Neil Billington. This is their fifth album, which finds them in the company of titular veteran Christchurch guitarist Bob Heinz with a little assistance from Billington’s harp and – unusually - Nils Olsen’s baritone sax. But, rather than the instrumentation, the signature sound of Hot Club Sandwich stems from London’s breathy singing and his smart witty songs. And these are present in abundance. Perhaps the slickest is the ode to his I-Pod “Poddy Understands Me” which comes complete with smoothly humorous backing vocals. Elsewhere “Rat Race Refugee” explores the plight of SUV-driving weekend farmers while the blues takes a front seat for the shopping ditty “Hard Bargain” and in the harp gymnastics of “I Don’t Recognise This Neighbourhood”. There are delightful Tin Pan Alley echoes on the clever Gershwin-style “You Can Be Difficult” while Heinz pops up to sing Fats Waller’s “Your Feet’s To Big” (with “a throat full of Christchurch smog”) and Crayford – writer of the Fair Go theme – contributes three nifty instrumentals. Hot Club Sandwich received an enviable 4-star review in America’s prestigious Downbeat magazine for their superb 2005 album Toasted. Riding with Bob is every bit its equal.