Congratulations on some exciting news for our contributor Laura Ainsworth, who in addition to being a top notch writer/news researcher is also an award-winning retro jazz singer in the Julie London/Rosemary Clooney tradition.

Her three CDs and best-of LP were recently picked up for distribution in Japan and proved so popular that an expanded CD best of, “Top Shelf,” has just been released there. It includes 16 tracks (one a previously-unreleased Irving Berlin classic), all remastered by Jessica Thompson, who was Grammy-nominated for her work on Erroll Garner’s “The Complete Concert by the Sea.” It includes a 16-page color booklet on Laura’s music and her unique upbringing as the daughter of musician Billy Ainsworth, who played with Tommy Dorsey, Freddy Martin and other legendary big band leaders.

The new Japanese CD just debuted and is available in the US, along with all her other music, through her website, www.lauraainsworth.com.

If you love great American music, here’s your chance to pick up some terrific CDs for yourself or Christmas gifts, and support one of the “Huckabee” family. You can also follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lauraainsworthsings and on Twitter at @lauraainsworth1.

Just to give you a taste, here she is singing a great old Mills Brothers tune on “Huckabee”:

https://youtu.be/AGorRNgp4t4