Martin & Coole is a folk swing blues duo from Western Australia featuring the songs of Jonathan Cope and Emma Birkett. “Emma and I have been playing together for years,” said Jon. “Mostly in our studio or kitchen, the local café and occasional school fete, but we’ve only now got around to recording a proper album of our own songs.” “Our ‘house’ music is a mix of acoustic folk, swing and blues played on guitars, ukuleles and mandolin, all with a healthy dose of vocal harmonies.” “The songs on The Roaring Gimlet are generally set in a local West Australian context or about local stories; like the one about a friend who spent a night in a maximum security prison for not wearing his bicycle helmet; a FIFO widow’s lament; or the story of Goongarrie, a Goldfields ghost town out near Lake Ballard." The Roaring Gimlet was recorded live at Pete Grandison’s Shanghai Twang studio with guest musicians Ian Simpson on dobro, banjo and guitar, John Perry on double bass and Rob Zielinski on fiddle, plus Xiao Xuan on yangqin and Malcolm Mah on bass.