Rain drops tapped out an insistent rhythm, beating against the tall windows of the Lizzie Rose Music Room while an eager crowd gathered inside, anticipating the long-awaited reopening of the unique venue.

While the late-October weather reminded everyone that we were truly in New Jersey, inside, the Hot Club of Cowtown – playing an infectious concoction of Western swing and hot jazz – transported the audience to its own imaginary Cowtown, located somewhere between the dusty West Texas plains and…