The band split briefly in 2005, though they reunited for occasional shows in 2005–07, including the Fuji Rock Festival[3] and a tour of Australia as Elana James & The Hot Club of Cowtown, in 2007.

Currently the Hot Club of Cowtown performs as a quartet or trio with guest artists regularly joining in, including Beau Sample on upright bass and Dave Biller and Matt Munisteri on guitar or steel.

The Hot Club's first album, 1998's Swingin' Stampede is a collection of standards, fiddle tunes, and classic Western swing songs, including two written by Bob Wills.

Crossing the Great Divide soon followed, an EP of songs drawn from the first two albums by The Band (Music from Big Pink and The Band) and re-arranged Hot Club of Cowtown-style The Hot Club of Cowtown's 11th studio album, Wild Kingdom, was released on September 27, 2019--a fourteen-track collection of standards and original songs by Whit Smith and Elana James about star-crossed romances ("Near Mrs.") cavemen, Mongolian stallions, vintage candy, rodeo pick up men, and the real meaning of "Last Call."

Their live show has been described as "an arsenal full of technique and joy" by Jon Caramanica in the New York Times Frank De Blase, in the Rochester City Paper writes that the band "swung light and tight like tumbleweeds made of velvet."

The Sunday Times (London) describes the Hot Club of Cowtown as “The world's most engaging Western Swing band – their shows are all about energy and joie de vivre – the devil-may-care style that combined the rigour of Jazz with the down-home sentiment of Country and earthiness of the Blues – it is as a live act that they have made their greatest impact.”

In 2013, the Hot Club of Cowtown was nominated for the first-ever Ameripolitan Music Awards, held in Austin, Texas in 2014, in the Western Swing Group of the Year category.

The Hot Club of Cowtown has toured with Bob Dylan,[5] Willie Nelson,[5] the Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Mavericks, Dan Hicks, Gatemouth Brown, The Avett Brothers, Bryan Ferry, Tyler Hilton and others.