Debby Boone was a mere toddler when her dad Pat Boone was hobnobbing with the Rat Pack, Barbra Streisand and all the showbiz elite in Las Vegas.  Yet, she must have had her eyes opened, taking mental notes and indulging in the splendor, as Debby Boone returns many moons later to do what her dad did best.  With her new show at Café Carlyle and her ensuing new record entitled "Swing This," Boone is back to performing a whole omnium gatherum of songs associated with the Rat Pack era.  Yet, Boone is no stranger to swinging jazz as she is married to Gabriel Ferror who is the son of the late great Rosemary Clooney (and incidentally also the cousin of actor George Clooney).  This is by no means Boone's first attempt at nepotism: way back in 2005, Boone recorded "Reflections of Rosemary," a tribute album to her mother-in-law. Now, backed by her mother-in-law's nine piece band directed by John Oddo, Boone re-visits some of the treasured standards of bygone past such as Irving Berlin's "Be Careful, It's My Heart," Mercer and Arlen's "That Old Black Magic" and Lee Hazelwood's "These Boots Are Made for Walking."   

Those with long memories would recall that Debby Boone's first claim to fame was when her debut solo record "You Light Up My Life" became an unprecedented hit spending 10 consecutive weeks at Billboard's number one spot.  This then is followed by a long and successful career in both pop and country music.  Especially in country music, when the genre was mostly male-dominated, Boone became one of the few ladies to regularly visit Billboard's Country Top 10 Singles category.  Then in 1980, Boone began channelling her career into Contemporary Christian music. She started off with aplomb when her song "With My Song" won her a Grammy Award.  Then she went on to record 4 Christian albums all of which were highly successful with 3 of them landing in the top 10 of Billboard's Christian album chart.  Later, due to popular demand, Curb Records has had re-issued all her Christian albums and she has also re-recorded many of her hits and hymns too.  Though "Swing This" is by no means a religious record, the themes of love and relationships so dear to the Scriptures pervade right through these 14 tracks. 

Reminding one of the refrain in Song of Solomon not to awake love until the time is right love's irrepressible power is both negatively and positively expounded through these songs.  "Mack the Knife," most commonly associated with Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin is a prime example of the former where a love that has gone awry leads to a facetious dramatic outcome.  Boone's animated storytelling prowess gears us up with suspense and intrigue right through this deftly crafted story song.  But she's less convincing on "These Boots Are Made For Walking."  Somehow Boone's more languid delivery lacks the sassy strutting bravado attitude that the song requires.  Lyrically one of the music most descriptive songs of love lost has to be "Cry Me a River."  Here Boone incarnates brilliantly the tortured nature of a soul who has just experienced a love lost. 

Of the songs that display a more positive side of love is "Get Me to the Church on Time."  Nowadays, we have lots of love songs exalting the gore of one night stands but songs that celebrate marriage and a union blessed by God are far and in between.  With the lovely bell chimes, Boone captures all the joys of a bride-to-be on "Get Me to Church on Time."  Sounding more and more like Rosemary Clooney, Boone redefines intimacy with the piano-led "Everybody Loves Somebody."  And she removes all emotional scaffolds with the tender "Be Careful, It's My Heart."  At 56 years old, Boone shows on "Swing This" that she can still move hearts"”whether she sings of love found or lost - she sings as if they are her own life experiences lifted straight out of the pages of her own diary.