Look Both Ways is a collection of twelve original compositions written around the music Greg Ruby had been playing for years with Hot Club Sandwich and Pearl Django.

The record came out in 2010, during the centennial year of Django Reinhardt’s birth. Rather than record another album of Django tunes, Ruby used the occasion to write new music influenced by the Hot Club tradition while leaving room for his other musical interests—swing, blues, folk and American roots music.

The lineup features violinist Evan Price, guitarist Doug Martin and bassist Spencer Hoveskeland, with guests Frank Vignola on guitar and David Lange on accordion.

The songs range from the driving title track and Swing for Dudley to the slower, more atmospheric Zephyr and Longest Day in the Dark. Kansas Straight Winds and From Afar reflect Ruby’s interest in music that suggests a place or a story without spelling it out.

At its core, Look Both Ways is a guitar record rooted in the Hot Club tradition, but made with original material and a band of musicians who were interested in taking the music somewhere of their own.

The record contains twelve original compositions:

• Look Both Ways
• Easy for You to Say
• Inside Out
• We Meet Again
• Zephyr
• Suspicion
• From Afar
• Swing for Dudley
• Longest Day in the Dark
• What Tales We Tell
• Déjà Vu
• Kansas Straight Winds

Personnel: Greg Ruby, guitar; Evan Price, violin; Doug Martin, guitar; Spencer Hoveskeland, bass; with Frank Vignola, guitar, and David Lange, accordion.