French Fries & Champagne illustrates the duality of the Hot Sardines ethos: on one side, they are a rollicking, lowbrow, gutbucket R&B and Hot Jazz band, who love to “let the good times roll,” reveling in the simple pleasures of a good plate of fried food and a sizzling foot-stomper from the '40s and '50s American South. On the other champagne side, the Sardines are the elegant, smooth, soft and luxurious lovers of lush orchestral arrangements of ballads about newfound love, loss and loneliness. A highlight is “When I Get Low, I Get High,” here now interpreted Sardines-style by Miz Elizabeth duetting with actor, Alan Cumming.