Asleep at the Wheel

Artist Information

Biography

Asleep at the Wheel has seen miles and miles of Texas. They got their kicks on Route 66. And, in 2010, the band clicked another milestone on the odometer – their 40th anniversary. Now in their 41st year, the band continues to introduce the western swing genre to a new generation on tour and takes audiences on the ride of a lifetime with their play, “A Ride with Bob.”
“It’s been an amazing ride. From Paw Paw to San Francisco to Austin, we’ve seen it all,” says Wheel front man Ray Benson. “But, rest assured, there is still so many exciting projects in the works. The Wheel keeps rolling!”

The Wheel Gets Rolling
“there's some relatively unknown group around that I really dig.
Asleep at the Wheel plays great country music.”
Van Morrison Rolling Stone Interview (1973)

It all started when Ray Benson, Floyd Domino, and Lucky Oceans, along with a Vermont farm boy named Leroy Preston; Virginian Chris O'Connell; and Gene Dobkin, a bass player and fellow classmate of Benson's from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, joined forces. They began with a simple goal: to play and help revive American roots music.
Asleep at the Wheel landed a gig opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in Washington, DC in 1970. At the height of Vietnam, many Americans were using their choice of music to express their stance on the conflict in southeast Asia. “We wanted to break that mold,” said Benson. “We were concerned more with this amazing roots music, which we felt was being lost amid the politics. We were too country for the rock folks and we were too long-haired for the country folks. But everybody got over it once the music started playing.”
A year later, they were coaxed into moving to California by Commander Cody, leader of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. But, the band’s big break came when Van Morrison mentioned them in an interview with Rolling Stone. The record offers started coming in and The Wheel got rolling.

80+ But Who’s Counting?
"We're a dance band. That's what we're about. And that's plenty."
Ray Benson

The musicianship of Asleep at the Wheel has become the stuff of legends. Reuter’s pegged The Wheel as “one of the best live acts in the business.” Taking a page from Bob Wills’ book, the band has constantly toured at a national level throughout its history; with anywhere from 7-15 of the finest players Ray Benson could talk into jumping in the bus to play a string of dates. The alumni roster is well over 80+ members, and includes an impressive list of musicians who have gone on to perform with artists such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Lyle Lovett, Ryan Adams, and many more. A quick scan of awards, such as “Touring Band of the Year” (CMAs, 1976) and “Lifetime Achievement in Performance” (Americana Music Awards 2009), not to mention near dominance of the GRAMMY “Country Instrumental” category over the years, reflects the reputation of the band’s musicianship. Ray Benson fell in love with western swing because of its unique combination of elements of American blues, swing and traditional fiddling but also for its demanding musical chops. Western swing is what Benson calls “jazz with a cowboy hat,” is a thrill to hear live, and thanks in large part to the Wheel’s 40 years of promotion, is a living and creative genre of music today.

On the Records
“Everything this act has ever released is simply spectacular.”
Billboard Magazine (2010)

Over their history, Asleep at The Wheel has garnered nine GRAMMY Awards and released more than 25 studio and live albums, and there is no sign of slowing down any time soon. Just last year they earned a Grammy nomination in the newly minted Best Americana Album category for their critically acclaimed Willie & The Wheel, on Bismeaux Records. Most recently, another collaborative project paired the band with the legendary lead from Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, Leon Rausch. The distinguished velvety vocals that voiced the King of western swing partnered with “post-modern kings of Texas Swing” on It’s A Good Day, which USA Today called, “swing from the heavens.” It was Leon who first suggested to Ray in the 1970’s that The Wheel record Get Your Kicks (on Route 66). The Wheel has now recorded the hit 4 times in 4 different decades, with this latest version featuring Leon.

The Play is The Thing
“The most entertaining night in Texas.”
-Liz Smith

The Broadway-scale musical that started as a commemoration of Bob Will’s 100th birthday in 2005 now marks its own milestone in 2010; 5 years. Ray Benson and Ann Rapp co-wrote the first-ever musical drama about Benson’s idol, entitled “A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical.” At the core of the story is the conversation Ray intended to have when he was invited to meet with Wills in 1974, fresh off the Wheel’s release of “Take Me Back to Tulsa.” Unfortunately, that meeting never happened as Mr. Wills took ill and never recovered. For the last five years, the play has presented an inspired look into the life, loves and music of the colorful Bob Wills in performances across Texas and from San Francisco to Washington DC. Immediately embraced by western swing fans, this unique presentation has achieved cult-status amongst fans who can’t get enough. This year “A Ride with Bob” continued its tour with performances in Abilene, Richardson and in Austin, September 17 and 18 at the Long Center.
True to Asleep at the Wheel’s original vision, the play isn’t just appealing to core fans. A 2007 interview with The New York Times noted, “the play had another advantage. ‘We were reaching a completely new audience,’ Mr. Benson said — theatergoers who might never set foot in a beer joint, or even in a cowboy boot.”

From Dance Halls to Concert Halls
“A Swinging Symphony”
-Fort Worth Star Telegram

Any band that spends upwards of 250 days on the road each year is more than likely to have seen its fair share of dives, gin joints, biker bars, clubs, auditoriums, dance halls and the like. The Wheel is no exception. Another place Wheel fans have more recently discovered the music has been in symphony halls. Originally debuted in collaboration with the Austin Symphony, the Wheel has since gone on to present their pops program in select performances across the country, and even released a CD in 2006 of their performance with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Throughout their four decades the Wheel has driven the genre to the edge, explored new territories, picked up new passengers along the way and crisscrossed the country to the delight of fans and critics alike. And, even though they’re doing “forty,” there’s no chance of slowing down now.

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Asleep at the Wheel History

1951 Bandleader Ray Benson born in Philadelphia, PA. (March 16)

1970 Band forms in Paw Paw, WV. Play first "big show" opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna.

1971 Band moves to California at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
Van Morrison helps the band to get first record deal by mentioning them in an interview in Rolling Stone Magazine - ‘there's some relatively unknown group around that I really dig. Asleep at the Wheel plays great country music. They're really good musicians.’

1973 Debut album Comin’ Right At Ya released by United Artists (includes single “Take Me Back to Tulsa”)
At invitation of Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm, band moves to Austin, Texas

1974 “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” from their second album Asleep at the Wheel is their first chart single

1975 The release of Texas Gold on Capitol Records elevates the band to one of the most popular country acts of the decade, with “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” becoming a top-ten country hit.
Band stars on the premier episode of “Austin City Limits” television show (and has performed 11 times since then).

1977 Voted Best Country & Western Band by Rolling Stone
The Wheel awarded “Touring Band of the Year” by Academy of Country Music.
Tours Europe with Emmylou Harris

1978 Their sixth nomination turns out to be their first GRAMMY™ win for the country instrumental “One O’Clock Jump.” The Wheel will go on to eight more to date.
Band appears in the film Roadie with Meatloaf, Blondie and Art Carney.

1979 Their first live album Served Live is recorded at the Austin Opera House

1987 The album 10 scores big with the GRAMMY™-winning single “String of Pars”

1989 Against the advice of most music insiders, Ray establishes Bismeaux Studio and Bismeaux Records where he’ll go on to produce projects for Willie Nelson, Pam Tillis, Carolyn Wonderland, Aaron Watson, James Hand, Suzy Bogguss, Don Walser, Dale Watson and many others.

1991 Ray directs the music and co-stars in the film Wild Texas Wind with Dolly Parton and Gary Busey

1992 Band featured on Route 66 Tour (66th Anniversary of Route 66)

1993 Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills for Liberty Records, including guest artists Garth Brooks, George Strait and Vince Gill amongst many others, is an instant hit, earning two GRAMMYS™ and a live performance on the Country Music Awards telecast with Lyle Lovett.

1997 Old Silver Eagle tour bus retired with over 3 million miles.

1999 Ride With Bob CD is released by Dreamworks and includes guest performances by the Dixie Chicks, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Manhattan Transfer and others. The ensuing long form documentary The Making of Ride with Bob earns a regional Emmy Award. The album wins two GRAMMY™ Awards.

2000 Tour with Bob Dylan & George Strait Stadium Tours begin (2000-2001)


2002 Ray hosts the CMT special Stars Over Texas in Austin, going toe-to- toe with Dolly Parton and Vince Gill.

2003 Ray releases his first solo record Beyond Time while at the same time managing to make two records with the band (Live at Billy Bob’s Texas and Asleep at the Wheel Remembers the Alamo)

2004 Ray is named the official 2004 Texas State Musician
Asleep at the Wheel launches its Pops program in performances with Austin and Dallas Symphonies

2005 “A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical,” co-written by Ray Benson and starring Ray and members of Asleep at the Wheel, debuts in Austin to coincide with Wills’ 100th birthday. Through the year, further performances in 4 cities sell out and garner critical acclaim.

Band chosen for opening performance at inaugural Austin City Limits Festival and carry on the tradition annually.

2006 “A Ride with Bob” sells out the Kennedy Center, with President and Mrs. George W. Bush in attendance. (The play is still performed around the country today and has introduced many to Bob Wills.)

2007 Band releases Reinventing the Wheel, their first feature CD in several years.

Band hits the road for “Last of the Breed” Tour, featuring Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price. Performance filmed for broadcast on PBS.

Ray serves as a judge on the ABC’s “Six Degrees of Martina McBride.”

2008 Ray Benson awarded the TEC - Les Paul Award honoring individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of recording technology.

Ray joins Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts for a musical tribute to Bob Wills on the 50th Annual GRAMMY™ Awards telecast on CBS.

Then Presidential candidate Barrack Obama joins Ray Benson on stage for a performance of “Boogie Back to Texas” at an Austin Fundraiser.

2009 Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel release “Willie & The Wheel” and earn a GRAMMY™ nomination for Best Americana Album – the first time this category has ever appeared.

Americana Music Association honors Asleep at the Wheel with Lifetime Achievement Award.

2010 The band releases “It’s a Good Day” with Texas Playboy Leon Rausch.

2011 Ray Benson receives the Texas Medal of the Arts.

Ray Benson named Texan of the Year.

Instrumentation

Ray Benson - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
David Sanger - Drums
David Miller - Vocals, Bass
Eddie Rivers - Saxophone, Pedal Steel
Jason Roberts - Vocals, mandolin, Fiddle
Elizabeth McQueen - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Dan Walton - Piano

Discography

It's A Good Day (2010)
Willie and The Wheel (2009)
Asleep at the Wheel with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (2007)
Reinventing the Wheel (2006)
Santa Loves to Boogie (2006)
Live From Austin City Limits CD/DVD (2006)
Best Of: On The Road Live CD/DVD (2006)
Live At Billy Bob's Texas (2003)
Remembers the Alamo (2003)
Hang Up My Spurs (2002)
The Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel (2001)
Ride with Bob (1999)
Super Hits (1997)
Merry Texas Christmas, Y'all (1997)
Live! Back to the Future Now (1995)
The Wheel Keeps on rollin' (1995)
Still Swingin' (Boxed Set) (1994)
Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills (1993)
The Swingin' Best of Asleep at the Wheel (1992)
Route 66 (1992)
Live & Kickin' (1992)
Keepin' Me Up Nights (1990)
Western Standard Time (1988)
10 (1987)
Pasture Prime (1985)
Framed (1980)
Served Live (1979)
Collision Course (1978)
The Wheel (1977)
Wheelin' and Dealin' (1976)
Texas Gold (1975)
Asleep at the Wheel (1974)
Comin' right at Ya (1973)

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• Twitter
• MySpace

Audio

• Truck Driver's Blues (feat. Willie Nelson)
  Listen  
• Hesitation Blues
  Listen  
• Boogie Back to Texas
  Listen  
• The Letter That Johnny Walker Read
  Listen  
• Am I Right (Or Amarillo)
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Boogie Back To Texas
• Hesitation Blues
• Bring It On Down To My House
• Am I Right (Or Amarillo)
• Texas Me and You
• Hot Like That

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Dan Rather Concert Review (Dec. 2011) [+ Show ]
  

  Home in Texas - flew in from NY midday. Got on my boots, jeans, work shirt and jeans jacket. Tonight...Home in Texas - flew in from NY midday. Got on my boots, jeans, work shirt and jeans jacket. Tonight I'm at a concert of legendary Texas band "Asleep at the Wheel" in Austin. When it comes to Texas music, outside of Willie (Nelson), it doesn't get any bigger or better than "Asleep at the Wheel."
  http://www.twitlonger.com/show/epr67c
  
  What the New York Philharmonic is to Gotham, "Asleep at the Wheel" (@AATW1969) is to Texas. Don't jump to conclusions. Texas has a lot of world-class classical music and big audiences for it. For example, The Houston Symphony and the Ft.Worth Opera, to name just two. Austin's own Symphony is very good itself. And the University of Texas has one of the best music departments, with all kinds of first rate music groups, anywhere. It's just that we get a rich mix in Texas and we don't forget our past and our roots.
  
  Part of what makes "Asleep at the Wheel" a quintessential Texas band is that it has always had great fiddlers - if it doesn't have a fiddle it's not a Texas band. The one last night was excellent (part of what made their rendition of the old standard "Faded Love" among their best numbers.) I Had never heard "Little Drummer Boy" played on guitar until last night. The opening solo act did it beautifully, hauntingly. The concert was in the old "Paramount" theater, a downtown Austin landmark. And what a beauty it is - fantastic detailed artistry inside, including a glorious ceiling. They don't make theaters like this anymore. Multiplex theaters in the mall are handy, accessible and all that, but the "Paramount" they aren't.
  http://www.twitlonger.com/show/eq5igr
  

• 2011 Live Concert Review (Nov. 2011) [+ Show ]
  

  Led by guitar-slinging troubadour Ray Benson, western swing kingpins Asleep at the Wheel have been c...Led by guitar-slinging troubadour Ray Benson, western swing kingpins Asleep at the Wheel have been churning out their spirited mix of country, bluegrass, swing, jazz, blues and rock ‘n’ roll for more than 40 years now.
  The line-up has changed considerably over the years, but the sound remains the same, anchored solidly by Texas tunesmith Benson’s deep and easy-on-the-ears voice. Their fan base is huge and spread out from coast to coast and includes Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Vince Gill, the Dixie Chicks, Merle Haggard and so many more among them.
  Two years ago when Asleep at the Wheel last passed through the area, they were playing the Palace Theatre with a bigger band that included horns. This time out they were stripped down to a seven-piece outfit with no horns, and they were playing in the smaller, more intimate, Swyer Theatre at The Egg.
  No matter, blame it on economics or a thousand other things why fewer folks showed up, but don’t blame the music: it jumped, did cartwheels and sounded oh-so-good, as it always does whenever Benson and the Wheel roll into town.
  With a gut-bucket full of originals and well-chosen covers, Asleep at the Wheel transformed the theatre into a Texas roadhouse, a Chicago jazz club or “Austin City Limits,” depending on the tune.
  Dan Walton’s piano jazz licks exchanged solos with Eddie River’s marvelous pedal steel guitar lines, while Benson added just the right guitar accents to create a space for Jason Roberts’ fiery fiddle runs. Guitarist Elizabeth McQueen, bassist David Miller and drummer David Sanger nailed down the rhythm and kept hammering it to keep it tight and right on cue.
  Out in the audience, feet were tapping out the rhythms right along with the band, and the waves of applause kept coming all night. The hard-touring band has been at it for more than four decades, and Asleep at the Wheel just keeps rolling along and delighting crowds, one town after another.

• Toes Tap To Classy Western Swing of Asleep at the Wheel (Nov. 2011) [+ Show ]
  

  Asleep at the Wheel played their smooth and classy western swing at the Egg’s Hart Theater Friday ni...Asleep at the Wheel played their smooth and classy western swing at the Egg’s Hart Theater Friday night. Ray Benson, who founded the group 41 years ago, sang, played and entertained as well as he ever has, backed by a younger but experienced group.
  
  Western swing, at least their version, is a Texas-grounded sound that crosses often into old jazz standards, jazz swing, and light country music with positive, g-rated lyrics. While the lyrics can offer some Texas-boasting, the music is humble. He played early “Miles and Miles of Texas,” then moved to “Don’t Fence Me In,” into a boogie-woogie of “Kicks on Route 66.” Regardless of pace, the energy stayed steady and smooth, somewhere between knee-slapping and foot tappin’.
  
  Eddie Rivers’ solo on steel guitar always raised eyebrows, as did the fiddling of Jason Roberts. Benson probably took the best solos, tossing us some blues, Django Reinhardt jazz, and country. They played an upbeat “It’s a Good Day,” title track from their latest release, each member taking a quick round of jazzy, unflashy solos. Then came the first mention of Bob Wills, with the Waylon Jennings tune, “Bob Wills Is Still the King.”
  
  Elizabeth McQueen sang a beautiful song about being an old cowgirl that moved more like an old jazz standard than a country tune. She sang mostly backup all night, and it would have been nice to hear her a little more alone, but that would mean less of Benson. Can’t have it all.Benson talked a bit about Western-swing founder Bob Wills. He played his tune “Roly Poly,” which started with a jazz piano solo from Walton and grew into a big-band feel that swelled on its own without a horn section.
  
  He played “Hesitation Blues” from his “Willie and the Wheel” album, which he did a few years ago with Willie Nelson. Benson followed with a story about the play he wrote and performs in Texas about Bob Wills. They sang a song from that play, “Sittin on Top O the World,” which he also recorded on the Willie Nelson album. Benson and McQueen sang the duet, trading verses, trading banter, and singing against each other, her blues coming through more than her country, a nice complement to Benson’s mellow western approach.
  
  During “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens,”guitarist Rivers blew a raspy and harmless sax solo for the fun of it. Benson went off on the value of chickens — “man’s best friend, breakfast, unch and dinner” — playing around with the Egg venue name.
  
  He followed with the prettiest song of the night, “What a Wonderful World,” Benson and McQueen trading verses and then joining on harmonies for the chorus. Benson took a gentle guitar solo, as did Roberts on fiddle. It was all beautifully done. For an encore they played a lush, drowsy version of “Happy Trails,” relaxing further the vibe of the room, before hustling into a smooth boogie woogie of “The Texas Playboys Radio Hour.”
  
  At most their music was great fun, and at least their music was smooth and enjoyable. For those northeasterners who generally don’t like all things from Texas, Asleep at the Wheel is something you can embrace without any effort.
  

• Fort Worth Botanic Garden Concert Review (June 2011) [+ Show ]
  

  It's easy to take a band like Asleep at the Wheel for granted. After all, the group is a fixture ...It's easy to take a band like Asleep at the Wheel for granted.
  
  After all, the group is a fixture on North Texas stages, often playing a set that rarely strays from familiar contours (not unlike another famous Texan, one Willie Nelson).
  
  But again and again Friday, during the opening night of the 21st annual Concerts in the Garden series (another local institution easy to take for granted), one was reminded of how deeply Ray Benson and his bandmates are embedded in the Lone Star State's DNA.
  
  Like a defiant splash of bluebonnets or a cold Shiner Bock on a hot, humid day, the gentle, timeless sounds of Western swing are immediately, proudly Texan. (Not for nothing did the Legislature decree the genre this year to be the official state music.) The durable songs, in a nearly two-hour set, floated easily on the almost-but-not-quite-yet stifling breezes in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
  
  This is Asleep at the Wheel's 41st year in the music business, a staggering landmark that's scarcely evident in the Grammy-winning band's lively presentation and stage presence. "It's amazing how well some of the fellas have held up," Benson deadpanned.
  
  Despite the absence of vocalist/fiddler Elizabeth McQueen (she' on maternity leave), the Benson-led sextet delivered its trademark blend of originals, covers and near-ceaseless tributes to Bob Wills (although a few tips o' the Stetson were sneaked to Fort Worth's Milton Brown, whom many consider the real godfather of Western swing).
  
  The sizable crowd, armed with lovers, coolers, grandchildren and smiles, was a bit subdued -- unimpressed by the meager cheers, Benson had to ask for a larger response before launching into Big Balls in Cowtown -- but whether people were seated or swing dancing, the mood was perfectly pleasant.
  
  Summer has sneaked up on us once more, bringing with it aggravating insects, dreadful heat and endless dry days. But for a moment Friday, it was staved off just a little longer. One of the state's genuine musical treasures, visiting our neck of the woods once more and playing songs that have endured since the days of W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, made everything feel just right. It was good to be home.

• Asleep at the Wheel Awake To Sold-Out Virginia Show (Nov. 2010) [+ Show ]
  

  Asleep at the Wheel's shows make one wonder if the band's name is something of a misnomer. It cer...Asleep at the Wheel's shows make one wonder if the band's name is something of a misnomer.
  
  It certainly was at a recent show in Falls Church, Va., when it seemed that at least a quarter of the audience was out of their seats and dancing in the aisles as the band played some of its classics tunes, including 'Am I Right (or Amarillo),' 'I'm an Old Cow Hand' and 'Sweet Jennie Lee,' a song made famous by Willie Nelson.
  
  "I'm just blessed to have this long run and be able to play music my whole life," leader Ray Benson told The Boot just prior to the concert. "You can blame it all on Willie."
  Fair enough. Willie became one of the band's biggest fan when he first heard their brand of western swing mixed with jazz 40-plus years ago. His rave reviews plus Van Morrison's high praise of Asleep at the Wheel to a Rolling Stone writer, launched the band's career that, even now, continues to build steam.
  
  In addition to Asleep at the Wheel's well-received theatrical production of 'A Ride With Bob,' which may soon hit Broadway, they've again joined Willie in the recording studio. A new album, 'Willie & The Wheel II,' is due for release in May. Add to that constant tours and special events -- such as Ray's Broadway debut November 16 in the production of 'Million Dollar Quartet' -- and you can see this band still kicks up quite a storm.
  
  Even though Ray temporarily lost his voice on top of spending most of the morning at an area hospital owing to a freshly sprained hand, he joined the band on stage and even gamely picked out a few notes on a guitar at one point.
  
  "As you can see, I got in a fight with the floor this evening," Ray joked with the crowd as he greeted them, tipping his hat and gesturing to his band. "These folks will take care of you. I'm going to sing a little bit and then go back and rest my hand."
  
  Although the band boasts more than 80 former members, its current lineup is clearly up to any task set before it. The band -- including fiddler/vocalist Jason Roberts and guitarist/vocalist Elizabeth McQueen -- kept the arrangements tight and the mood swinging.
  
  But as the band moved through more hits including 'Take Me Back to Tulsa,' and 'Miles and Miles of Texas,' Ray still didn't leave the stage, singing, dancing and chatting with the audience much as he likely did years ago when the songs were brand new.
  
  Of course, things have changed dramatically since the nine-time Grammy Award winning band formed. Prior to the show, Ray reflected on country music's focus on country pop that often leaves bluegrass, classic country, western swing, and other variations out in the cold. Not that he isn't a fan of more contemporary artists -- his bus is littered with CDs including those of Gretchen Wilson, and he offers high praise for her and other performers -- but he thinks fans crave more variety.
  
  "Johnny Cash said he had the good fortune to be a simple player," says Ray, likening Asleep at the Wheel's sound to that of the Man in Black. "Audiences like the simple sounds."
  
  By the enthusiastic response of the capacity audience that came to see Asleep at the Wheel, Johnny was likely right.

• Ray Benson 40th Anniversary Interview (Nov. 2010) [+ Show ]
  

  With his band Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Benson has seen miles and miles of Texas — and pretty much th...With his band Asleep at the Wheel, Ray Benson has seen miles and miles of Texas — and pretty much the rest of the U.S. — spreading the gospel of Bob Wills and Texas Swing. Beginning in West Virginia in 1970, Asleep at the Wheel spent a couple of years in the San Francisco Bay Area before setting up shop in Austin in 1973. Tonight (Nov. 5), Benson and the 2010 version of the Wheel will gather on the stage of Austin's Long Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate their 40th anniversary with two dozen or so alumni and friends such as Leon Rausch of the Texas Playboys and Willie Nelson. We caught up with Benson a week ago as the Wheel was rolling from Cody, Wyo., to Wichita, Kan., for a Friday night show, and then on home to get ready for the concert. Here's some of our conversation with Ray.
  
  What persuaded you to move from California to Texas?
  I met Willie Nelson and Doug Sahmand they suggested we move to Texas. After we played the Armadillo World Headquarters, it became pretty obvious that we should. We playedLiberty Hall in Houston, Mother Bluesin Dallas and the Armadillo in Austin. The telling thing was when we went to San Antonio and we played a hippie club called the Scotchmans Club and then the Farmers Daughter, which was a redneck dance hall with a picture of Bob Wills behind the stage. It became obvious to us that we were the only band that could play hippie joints one night and then go play a redneck dance hall, and do well in both. ... The whole Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Commander Codycrossover redneck and hippiedom kind of fit us perfectly.
  
  Did you ever get any grief in the joints you played? Did you ever have to fight your way out?
  Oh, hell yeah. In West Virginia we did. I think the difference between us and the other hippies was — hey, I'm 6-foot-7. ... We believe in peace and love and everything but not if it meant getting our ass kicked. ... (Not too long ago,) at a trail ride kind of deal somebody got very offended that I was born a Yankee.
  
  What is your worst experience on stage that you can laugh about today?
  How much time you got? I don't get nervous going on stage because everything has happened to me. I've walked onstage with my fly wide open. I walked onstage and had my nose start bleeding. I threw up on stage and had to swallow it. That's the worst thing that's ever happened. And you know the show must go on. It's one of those sacred things you do. I've been sick as a dog and gone onstage because what are you going to do? Tell people I'm sick? No. We don't believe in that. I've missed three or four dates in 40 years. Sometimes you have what I call Tourette's moments. Sometimes things come out of your mouth and you can't believe what you said. You had no intention of saying it. You don't know how your lips formed the f-word. You didn't do it intentionally.
  
  The best experience?
  The best moment? I'll tell you what it was. The day after 9/11. We were supposed to play at the White House on 9/11. Laura Bush had asked us to come play at a Texas barbecue on the South Lawn. We obviously didn't play. The next day we were at the North Carolina State Fair. We had a bus so we could drive out of D.C. So we drove down. We asked if we were still playing. The lady said, "Yeah. I don't see any reason not to. We won't have the crowd that we normally have." But we certainly didn't want something like that to stop one of our traditions, state fairs. So I think about what the hell am I going to do, you know. This is a very solemn moment. We walk on stage and I just said: "We all know the tragic events of the day before but we're not going to let something like this stop our American way of life." And we went right into America the Beautiful. It really was the most emotional moment I've ever had on stage. It was such a strange day to be playing music.
  
  You seem to be on the road all the time. I read that you retired a bus with 3 million miles on it in 1997.
  That was the old bus. We've gotten three since then. We're on our sixth. We do about 100,000 miles a year average, not including air miles. We do about 150 shows, 180-200 days on the road. You look at Willie Nelson or Bob Dylan, we're no big deal. That's just the way it is. If you love playing, you've got to do it on the road.
  
  When you're on the road, what do you do to keep from getting too bored? What do you do on the bus? Do you play tourist?
  Now that we have satellite TV on the bus, and Internet, it's a whole different world. We used to play poker and card games and backgammon. Off the bus, we go play golf, sight-see, watch movies, kill time. We've been to Wichita so many times. What's there to see in Wichita? Well, there's the um ... the um ... well they've got the aeronautics thing here. ... Cody, Wyo., was really cool. We went to the old bar that Buffalo Bill Cody built in 1902. It's got this bar that the queen of England gave him. So, yeah, we like to catch the local flavor if we can. In the early days, we used to be a tourist more than now. There are very few towns that I haven't been to before.
  
  Are you still doing A Ride with Bob? How often are you able to do that?
  Whenever we can. This year we did Abilene, Richardson, Austin and Ruidoso. We do it whenever we can. It's kind of tough little thing to put on. We'll do it again. We don't understand why we've never done it in Houston. We did Galveston (1894 Opera House) a few years ago and did great. But somehow the theater elite in Houston haven't been very interested.
  
  Are you looking forward to a few days at home?
  Yeah, then we head back East after this run. I'll make my Broadway debut. I'm going to sing a song with a new Broadway show called the Million Dollar Quartet. I'm going to go up there in November. We do a whole East Coast swing in November.
  
  How much longer are you going to be a road warrior?
  Until they stop coming, you know. Honestly, unless I can't do it anymore, I'm physically unable. That'll happen, I'm sure. But I hope it's a ways down the road.
  

• Asleep at the Wheel Still Riding High In The Saddle (Mar. 2010) [+ Show ]
  

  In the first of two area shows, the nine time Grammy Award winning band Asleep At The Wheel performe...In the first of two area shows, the nine time Grammy Award winning band Asleep At The Wheel performed last night at Rams Head On-Stage, a restaurant and intimate night club in historic Annapolis. The band will play the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia this evening.Ray Benson
  
  The band kicked off a lively and highly entertaining twenty two song set with the once obscure yet fitting “Miles and Miles of Texas”. This particular tune tells the tale of a young cow poke that “crossed that ‘ol Red River” only to fall deeply in love with all things Texas. The song’s composer may well have been describing the band’s founder, front man, and 6’ 7” funny man Ray Benson himself. Benson migrated to Texas nearly forty years ago from Philadelphia, by way of West Virginia; only to fall hard for the Lone Star State and the music of Bob Wills and western swing. In nearly forty years since, Asleep At The Wheel has carved out an impressive artistic niche.
  
  Benson casually led the group through some wonderful interpretations of songs like the boogie woogie classic Route 66, the Texas fiddle breakdown “Ride With Bob”, the aching and familiar “Faded Love”, and several songs from the bands’ most recent album “Willie And The Wheel” including “Hesitation Blues”, “Oh, You Pretty Woman” and “ I am Sittin On Top Of The World”.
  
  Like Bob Wills, Benson and the band borrow their stylings from a variety of influences including jazz great Fats Waller, gypsy swing guitar savant Django Reinhardt, and even cowboy crooner Gene Autry on “Don’t Fence Me In”. What makes Benson and Asleep At The Wheel’s interpretations so fine and well received are deceptively complex arrangements delivered seamlessly, and with little apparent effort. The icing on this multi-layered musical cake were strong two, three and four part vocal harmonies laced through “Faded Love”, “Cherokee Maiden”, and “Sugar Moon” among others throughout the set.
  
  Although the bands’ alumni now numbers over eighty, Benson is blessed with a current line-up featuring fiddle champ and tenor vocalist Jason Roberts, the sunny Elizabeth McQueen from nearby Columbia and U. of Md. on vocals and rhythm guitar, and young Dan Walton on boogie woogie piano. Rounding out the personnel are Eddie Rivers on pedal steel guitar, David Miller on the Swiss Army bass, and David Sanger on drums. McQueen and Sanger are married and welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Lisel born in December of 2008. Jason Robers and Elizabeth McQueen perform at Rams Head On-Stage 3-10-10.
  
  The night’s only glitche were some popping sounds heard about half way through the evening that sent the tech crew scrambling. Walton’s piano had blown, effectively ending his contribution until the very end of the show. Taking it all in stride, Benson simply added yet another quip “Gee, now I actually have some room to move around” bringing yet another laugh from the enthusiastic, sell-out crowd.

• Concert Review: Asleep at the Wheel Just Awesome (Nov. 2008) [+ Show ]
  

  Asleep At The Wheel was anything but Saturday night at Atwood Concert Hall. With nine Grammys under ...Asleep At The Wheel was anything but Saturday night at Atwood Concert Hall. With nine Grammys under the Austin group's belt, these country swing musicians put the yee-haw into a night of Texas-style big-band music.
  
  This was Texas swing with jazz, blues and honky-tonk going along with its cowboy twang. Co-founded by Ray Benson -- on guitar and vocals Saturday night -- the group's sound evolved from the music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys who owned the Texas swing style from the 1930s to the 1960s.
  The band relied on old western swing standards with Asleep's updated twist, like "Don't Fence Me In," "Happy Trails To You," and Wills' favorites "Take Me Back To Tulsa" and "Miles and Miles of Texas" for the program.
  
  You know a band's good when you have to restrain yourself from dancing in the aisles to a tune that's 65 years old. And you also have to give the band chops for playing non-stop for almost two hours and looking like they could go another two.
  
  Benson's baritone was like silk and took center stage most of the evening. But Jason Roberts' higher vocals complemented him wonderfully. Add in singer Elizabeth McQueen's sweetly rough sounds and you had a vocal section that melted your heart and set your feet tapping.
  
  Benson got "Route 66" off to a jumpin' start with a growling melody that challenged the other musicians "to get your kicks," which they did in fine form. In Wills' "Faded Love," Roberts and McQueen leaned back to howl out this country love song while Benson came in soft and low behind them.
  
  The group dipped into contemporary mixtures of boogie, jazz and the blues to fashion sounds that definitely had more than Texas in their chords and notes. "Sweet Jennie Lee," for example, is on the band's latest album featuring Willie Nelson. Fiddler and singer Jason Roberts wrote "Am I Right Or Amarillo," and the band recorded Wills' "A Big Ball's In Cowtown" with George Strait.
  
  If the singing was sweet as Texas water, the instrumental music was just as clean. And as much as I liked Benson, McQueen and Roberts' singing, Eddie Rivers on steel guitar and John Michael Whitby on piano stole a piece of my heart. Rivers' steel guitar was classic western swing music. Its whining twang and slithering notes put the Texas in songs like "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" and "Sweet Jennie Lee." Equally, Whitby put the boogie in "Good Bye Lisa Jane" and the aptly named "Bump Bounce Boogie," which had the group leaping like fools.
  
  Here's the secret to Asleep At The Wheel's success all these years. You don't have to be a ten-gallon hat-wearing Texan to swing with the group. You can be an Alaskan cowboy wanna-be and still get a kick in the pants from this wildly popular band.
  
  Anne Herman holds a master's degree in dance and has been a consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts.
  

• It's A Good Day CD Review: Grade A [+ Show ]
  

  The musicianship is stellar, with horns, fiddle, guitars, drums, piano, mandolin and upright bass ex...The musicianship is stellar, with horns, fiddle, guitars, drums, piano, mandolin and upright bass expertly produced by the Wheel's unflappable leader, Ray Benson. Leon Rausch, 82, who sang with Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, remains in fine crooning voice. He's particularly smooth on "Snap Your Fingers." Willie Nelson guests on "Truck Driver's Blues," Wheel members Elizabeth McQueen and Jason Roberts tear up the microphone singing and picking, and then the entire gang rips through the Western swing scorcher "Osage Stomp." What's not to like? Here's further proof that down in Austin, Benson keeps Wills' legacy spit-polished.

• It's A Good Day CD Review: Grade B+ [+ Show ]
  

  It’s startling to reflect on the fact that Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel, the modern standard-bearers...It’s startling to reflect on the fact that Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel, the modern standard-bearers of the native branch of country music known as Western swing, has been a going concern longer than the form’s most famous innovators, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.??But nonetheless, it’s true. The Wheel, a shifting cast of characters under the long shadow cast by towering frontman Ray Benson, began as a group of Berkeley hippies who moved to Austin in 1974 where they discovered some surviving members of the Playboys, most notably fiddlers Jesse Ashlock and Johnny Gimble, still holding forth in local honky-tonks like the Broken Spoke.??Since then, the two bands have been joined at the hip, spiritually and musically. The Wheel and the Playboys shared an episode during the first season of “Austin City Limits” and many other stages before and since. The Wheel recorded two tribute albums of Bob Wills music, and Benson co-wrote and starred in a play, “A Ride With Bob.” As time and circumstance whittled the cast of Texas Playboys down, the Wheel assumed the role of keepers of the flame of Western swing. Nobody does it better (though Merle Haggard and George Strait come close).??So it’s not only natural, it’s probably inevitable that the band should team up with one of the Playboys’ last and greatest vocalists, Leon Rausch. Similar in spirit to last year’s Willie and the Wheel, the latest effort sees the band putting its guest in a familiar setting and letting him rip.??Rausch joined the Texas Playboys in 1958, relatively late in the day for the band whose heyday was in the 1930s and ’40s. But songs like “It’s A Good Day,” “Basin Street Blues” and “Sugar Moon” are encoded in his DNA, which lends this product a natural, effortless feel.??Rausch drops his voice to a playful, Satchmo-like growl for “Alright, Okay, You Win” and duets playfully with Benson and Wheel vocalist Elizabeth McQueen on other tunes. Willie Nelson makes a cameo with Rausch on “Truck Driver Blues,” and the latter sounds like a natural member of the band on the Wheel’s reinvented classic, “Get Your Kicks (On Route 66).” Rausch also offers up an elastic, heartfelt blues vocal on Wills’ “Cotton Patch Blues.” Only the slightly mechanical rendition of Cindy Walker’s sentimental “Sugar Moon” gives the track a forced, contrived feeling.??Otherwise, this is an upbeat, tip-of-the-Stetson salute from one era of innovators to the next. But the effort begs the question: Now that Ray Benson and Asleep At the Wheel are the de facto elder statesmen of Western swing, where are the hot young next-generation musicians looking up to them?

• It's A Good Day CD Review: Three Stars [+ Show ]
  

  Given the tight, select world of Texas swing, it's surprising that Ray Benson's prolific Wheelers ha...Given the tight, select world of Texas swing, it's surprising that Ray Benson's prolific Wheelers had never recorded with Rausch, who joined Bob Wills' Texas Playboys as a vocalist in 1958. Rausch is credited with arranging the Wheel's signature song, Get Your Kicks (on Route 66), reprised here, and still possesses a sturdy voice at 83. He gets impeccable support from his hosts, and from Willie Nelson, who does a workmanlike turn on Truck Driver's Blues.— Jerry Shriver

• Willie and The Wheel CD Reviews (2009-2010) [+ Show ]
  

  "Bright, playful and exploding with verve, 'Willie and the Wheel' is one of the first great albums o..."Bright, playful and exploding with verve, 'Willie and the Wheel' is one of the first great albums of 2009." - The Washington Post
  
  "One of the finest albums ever recorded." - Austin Music City
  
  "Record of the year material" - Midwest Record
  
  "...flawless musicianship and brilliant arrangements..." - The News & Observer
  
  "You couldn't make this story up if you wanted to" - Ray Benson
  
  "...pure musical joy..." - CMT
  
  "The set is so authentic that one almost feels guilty listening to it on modern speakers instead of seated around the old Victrola." - Billboard
  
  "Grade A" - Philadelphia Daily News
  
  "With titles like 'Shame On You' and 'Sweet Jennie Lee,' the songs came from the canon of Western Swing, a style born around the same time as Mr. Nelson in Texas -- and one that, in uncertain times, may have a new relevance." - The Wall Street Journal
  
  "I haven't heard a more exhilarating, body-celebrating album this year." - Offbeat Magazine
  
  "Years from now, when exploring either artist’s catalog, WATW will stand out as the crown jewel in the latter stages of their careers." - San Diego CityBeat
  
  "'This is the best year ever,' Benson said by phone last week from New Jersey. 'We’re here on the road with Willie Nelson, going on tour.' Best year ever, that’s major for Benson’s Asleep at the Wheel. Since forming in 1972, the Western swing band has won nine Grammy Awards. Despite all the Wheel’s Grammy-winning albums, this one rises above." - The Herald Courier
  
  "Both Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel are in prime form on this magnificent effort." - Nashville City Paper
  
  "This is the kind of record that makes people want to become real musicians in a way that today’s music doesn’t. Five Stars." - The 9513
  
  "Asleep at the Wheel's take on Western swing should be especially interesting to fans of early 20th-century American popular music. Their fidelity to the source material means that traces of jazz swing, ragtime and Dixieland are preserved as if in amber, sounding much as they did in the '30s and '40s." - Washington Times
  
  "Music doesn't get any more fun than this. It's the first must-have album of the year." 30 Days Out
  
  "Willie And The Wheel celebrates a kindred-spirit teaming of Willie Nelson and Asleep At The Wheel that brings out the best in both. It's also a revelation, as horns add a Dixieland feel to some of the arrangements, bringing the music closer to New Orleans than Texas." - No Depression
  
  "This is string-heavy, boot-tapping stuff, music that was once a fixture of dance halls in Tulsa, Fort Worth, and elsewhere. No, western swing certainly ain’t dead, as Asleep at the Wheel likes to remind us. In fact, it sounds as lively as ever." - Garden and Gun
  
  "Superb vocals and excellent instrumental backing." - Roughstock
  
  "Nelson's easygoing tenor sounds smoother than ever with by the band's barbershop-quartet-style backing on songs like the opening "Hesitation Blues" and "Corrine Corrina," and when they're not coming together in high harmony, gentle violin swoops and washing pedal steel keep things bucking and shuffling." - Galesburg Register-Mail
  
  "It's hard to listen to the album and not have a smile on your face." - Listen.com
  
  "Four and a Half Stars" - Montreal Gazette
  
  "The album is strong across the board, prompting listeners to tap their toes and sing along with the parts they know. For fans of Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel or simply traditional country and western, Willie and the Wheel is worth a spin. A-" - Greencastle Banner-Graphic
  
  "...as comfortable and welcoming as a familiar old leather jacket." - All Music Guide
  
  "The tracks on Willie and The Wheel swing like crazy as Nelson croons over the urgent, jazzy tempos, blazing fiddles, tinkling piano and ever-present steel guitar." - High Country Press
  
  "Asleep at the Wheel has sparked an amazing album of sexy, old-time ragtime tunes, rethought with Texas Swing and New Orleans jazz flavors." - Philadelphia Daily News
  
  "Nelson is obviously in his element and having a ball." - Houston Press
  
  "A marriage made in Heaven." - The Time Union
  
  "Willie Nelson and Asleep At The Wheel delivers an awesome selection of timeless western swing hits that will stand the test of time. Each song paints a picture that will take you to a place and time that has practically become extinct. Five Stars" - About.com
  
  "If you really don't know what you're missing in the Western Swing arena, then this is a great introduction. The sound is accessible and tight, friendly and joyful. Bob Wills is still the king, but Willie And The Wheel brings it all into the 21st century with a keen edge that would make the king proud." - Hybrid Magazine

• The Ambassador - Ray Benson [+ Show ]
  

  Texas Music Cover Story, Spring 2009, Issue 38 The Ambassador Asleep at the Wheel leader Ray...Texas Music Cover Story, Spring 2009, Issue 38
  
  
  The Ambassador
  
  Asleep at the Wheel leader Ray Benson has spent four decades carrying the torch of western swing. He’s towered over the Live Music Capital of the World as one of its most visible and respected artists for nearly as long, and even held office as the official Texas State Musician. Not bad for a Philly boy.
  
  By Rob Patterson
  
  There’s a notch at the front and center of the Broken Spoke stage, a step cut down into the already low riser. Owner James White made the alteration so that his low-ceilinged Austin dancehall could accommodate the skyscraper height of Ray Benson and his cowboy hat anytime he plays the venue with Asleep at the Wheel, the western swing band he has led for just shy of 40 years.
  
  Yep, at 6 feet 7 inches, Benson is one tall drink o’ water. And for nearly as long as he’s fronted the Wheel, Benson has cast a long shadow across Austin, the Republic of Texas, American music, the music industry at large and just about anything he puts his canny mind and relentless energy to — as well as anyone who has ever gotten to know the man. Through miles and miles of roadwork and acclaimed side projects, like the Bob Wills musical stage play, A Ride with Bob, Benson and his bigger-than-average band of remarkably talented players have become a musical institution. Texas can boast better-selling acts, but few as highly lauded: Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have collected an impressive nine Grammy Awards, not to mention numerous other accolades.
  
  Since arriving in Austin in the early ’70s, Benson has become an integral and influential presence in the Capital City. The Wheel appeared on the first regular episode of Austin City Limits with some of the surviving stars of Bob Wills’ old band, the Texas Playboys. He has served on almost every music- and musician-oriented steering committee, ad-hoc group and/or foundation board in Austin, and helped found organizations such as the Health Alliance for Austin?Musicians, which provides sliding-scale health care, and the SIMS?Foundation, which offers mental health services. He’s also spoken out about his status as a carrier of hepatitis C to help raise awareness of the contagious and potentially fatal disease. Even his birthday parties have been turned into hot-ticket fund-raisers.
  
  Benson’s been on the board of directors of KLRU-TV, the home of PBS’ Austin?City Limits, and was instrumental in pushing the concept of selling Austin as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”?A world-class schmoozer, Benson will show up at the opening of the proverbial envelope; if there’s a cause in town to support, he’s often the first to sign up. Naturally, he’s proved to be an ideal spokesman for such initiatives as Gibson Guitar’s Austin GuitarTown fund-raising project, and when Austin became a high-tech center in the ’90s, Benson was along for the ride as chipmaker AMD’s “Premier Artist” to help the company develop music-industry expertise. He was also recruited by Michael Dell to fill in the high-tech community and potential recruits on the role that music plays in the city’s culture.
  
  As a producer, he’s pushed the boundaries of digital recording, hot-rodding classic vacuum-tube equipment to bring the warmth and richness of the early recordings that first inspired him to the cutting edge of modern sound. His innovations won him the Les Paul Award from Mix magazine’s Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio, an honor he shares with Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, Sting and Bruce Springsteen. He also helped found the Rhythm & Blues Foundation to both honor and assist the musicians who created and defined the style.
  
  But wait, there’s more. Click on your TV, and you just might hear Benson’s sonorous voice in ads for McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Levi’s and the Texas State Lottery. Show up early every year on the first day of the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival — an event he lobbied passionately for as a KLRU?board member — and Asleep at the Wheel is there to both kick off the event and make sure that the Texas musical tradition isn’t lost in the contemporary rock shuffle. Oh, and when you fly in or out of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, you can stop off at the Ray Benson Roadhouse to grab a bite or whet your whistle. (Benson licensed the use of his name for the wayfarer’s spot.)
  
  Clearly, the Broken Spoke isn’t the only place in Texas where he’s made his mark. Benson is recognized the world over as one of the Lone Star State’s most fervent and effective musical ambassadors. So much so that in 2004, the Texas State Legislature appointed him as the first official Texas State Musician.
  
  And just think about this for a spell: Could anyone have ever predicted that one of the most vital and influential forces in Texas music would be some lanky, ponytailed ex-hippie from Philadelphia? No way. Never in a million years. When A Ride with Bob, an imagining of the conversation Benson never got to have with his musical inspiration, played the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., president George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, were in the audience. When Benson moved to Austin, Bush hadn’t yet reached the governor’s mansion. Benson likes to joke that rent, Mexican breakfasts and pot were all cheap enough to afford on a musician’s salary when he got here in the ’70s; no way did he ever imagine he’d become one of the town’s most prominent citizens — and a bigger booster for Austin and Texas than the former president. That alone should tell you a lot about the sharp, highly musical and quite visionary force of nature that is Ray Benson.
  
  “How did this hillbilly Jewboy from Philly help launch a western swing revival and keep it rolling all these years?” asks AATW road manager and sound engineer Jim Finney, who has logged a good 20 years (in two 10-year stints) on the bus with Benson. Finney has the answer ready:?“Business, business, business. That, and a magical ear and a baritone voice that God wishes he had.”
  
  Drummer David Sanger, at 23 years with the Wheel, is the band’s most veteran member, and the one with the most years of any of the four score or so musicians who have shared the stage with Benson. His honest appraisal of the boss? “He’s the hardest working guy I’ve ever met,” Sanger says.
  
  That work ethic is readily apparent not just in Benson’s music, but also in his savvy networking skills and good old-fashioned hustle. “Ray is the biggest opportunist I know — and I mean that as a compliment!” notes Austin City Limits producer Terry Lickona. “He can smell an opportunity a mile away, and he has an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time with the right idea.”
  
  And this year, Benson has even brought to fruition a right idea that was first suggested by legendary producer and record man Jerry Wexler back in the band’s early days: Willie & the Wheel, a collaboration with Texas country music godhead Willie Nelson. The Washington Post has hailed the disc, released Feb. 3, as “one of the first great albums of 2009.”
  
  Benson takes it a bit further.
  
  “It’s by far the best thing we’ve ever done,” he says proudly and without hesitation.
  
  * * *
  
  It may seem strange — if not downright bizarre — that a man who hails from such a quintessential Yankee burg as Philadelphia could play such an important role in creating an album as quintessentially Texas as Willie & the Wheel, not to mention nearly every other twangy note that Asleep at the Wheel has recorded or played onstage. But talk with Benson about his formative years, and it all makes sense.
  
  Born Ray Benson Seifert on March 16, 1951, just as the jazz age was fading, R&B was heating up and rock ’n’ roll was about to rear its unruly head, Benson was ideally situated from an early age to follow his muse down his chosen path. “My parents were in one of the first suburban developments just outside Philadelphia,” he explains. “And it was right next to three horse farms. So I rode horses since I was 6 or 7 years old. And we would tromp in the woods and play Davy Crockett. We were country kids because it was there. And Western images were all over the television and on our lunchboxes.”
  
  In 1957, he went to see Gene Autry when the country & western music founding father appeared in Philly. Plus, Benson notes, “Stetson has a factory in Philadelphia. When I was 16, I told my dad I wanted a cowboy hat, and we went to the factory and got one.”
  
  Along with the horses, Western icons and cowboy hats, Benson’s youth was filled with country music — even though Philadelphia didn’t have a country radio station at the time. “I can remember in 1961, like it was yesterday, hearing on my little transistor radio songs like Ferlin Huskey’s ‘Wings of a Dove,’ Patsy Cline singing ‘Crazy,’ and ‘Hello Walls’ by Faron Young, all on Top 40 pop radio,” he says. “And I played folk music, sang Woody Guthrie and Carter Family songs. The third or fourth song I learned was ‘Wildwood Flower.’ I played square dances because this whole folk music thing was about getting back to rural roots. And I played guitar, and guitar leads you to all of that stuff.”
  
  Benson was also a jazz fanatic, something that still informs his guitar playing and ensemble arrangements. “But I was never that big a fan of the old Tin Pan Alley songwriting style, that romantic ‘moon in June’ stuff,” he confesses. “It was the songwriting that really drew me to country music, because it was so real and true to life. It’s the same reason I like rhythm ’n’ blues.”
  
  All those influences came together in the western swing music of Bob Wills, a wild hybrid of country and big-band jazz that Benson first discovered in his teens. “Back then, the only way you could get his music was on 78 rpm records,” Benson says. “And believe me, they were not easy to find.” But find them he did, and, not content to keep his discovery to himself, Benson made it his mission to share it with as many people as possible. In the ’70s, western swing — like its most famous icon, Wills — was all but on its deathbed. Today, largely thanks to the Wheel, the style is not just alive and well, but breathing deep and dancing night after night.
  
  Benson started the band while (briefly) attending Antioch College in Ohio with his childhood pal, Lucky Oceans, and bassist Gene Dobkin. Then future Rolling Stone and Austin American-Statesman critic Ed Ward booked Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen for a concert at the school, and suddenly, Benson and crew had a musical purpose. “Our concept was to explore roots American music — western swing, rockabilly, country blues, honky-tonk, all the things that were gone from the music scene,” Benson explains. “And being who we were, we were going to be able to bring the music back to the kids of our generation whose parents loved that music. That was the goal. It was idealistic.”
  
  Benson left college, and the band started woodshedding in a cabin near the tiny West Virginia mountain town of Paw Paw. “We were going to live in the country and live off the land like all the hippies chose to do in 1969, because the cities were getting ridiculous,” Benson recalls. Just as the act was getting started, Merle Haggard issued his album, A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (Or My Salute to Bob Wills). That’s when AATW zeroed in on western swing.
  
  Asleep at the Wheel’s first major show was opening for the theatrical hard-rock act Alice Cooper in Washington, D.C., where they moved not long after forming. They scooped up singer Chris O’Connell to give the act a triple-threat front line:?O’Connell, singer/guitarist Benson and singer/drummer/guitarist Leroy?Preston. Commander Cody invited the band to join him in the San Francisco area, which was where they were seen by Van Morrison. Morrison then mentioned the band during an interview with Rolling Stone, which led to a deal with United Artists Records.
  
  Comin’ Right At Ya, their 1973 debut album, stood out even among the popular country rock releases of the day. It was instrumental in turning on a whole new, rock-raised generation on to western swing, making Benson a Texas music ambassador even before he moved to the Lone Star State — which AATW did later that year, relocating to Austin at the urging of Doug Sahm and Willie Nelson.
  
  As the saying goes, Benson wasn’t born in Texas — but he got here as fast as he could. And boy, did he ever make up for lost time.
  
  * * *
  
  “Everybody I’ve met in the business seems to know Ray Benson and has a ‘Ray story’ to tell,” observes ACL’s Lickona.
  
  It’s true: Benson really does seem to know just about everyone who’s anyone in the music business. Mention a name, almost any name, and Ray will likely say, “Yeah, he’s my friend,” and speak of some business they’ve done together. And these aren’t just the usual music-business “friendships.” He can call any number of legends and heavy-hitters and they’ll pick up the phone or return a message soon. And hear out whatever he has to say, because anyone who knows Benson knows that he delivers on what he proposes.
  
  When not on tour, Benson does his “business, business, business” from what seems at first glance to be just another old south Austin house, on Manchaca Road just north of Ben White. That house is not only Asleep at the Wheel headquarters, but also one of Austin’s finest recording facilities, Bismeaux Studios (built in 1991 in what used to be the house’s separate garage). Benson adopted both the name Bismeaux and the venture’s alligator mascot after a couple of characters in the classic Walt Kelly comic strip, Pogo. “The funny pages were my world until I was a teenager,” notes Benson, who spouts Pogo-isms like a Dan Rather of the cartoon world.?
  
  Benson found the house during the Texas economic downturn of the late ’80s for a price so low it feels ancient. “I lucked into this place and it has saved our ass during the lean years,” he says. Benson’s office at the back of the house combines the homeyness of a 1950s suburban den with such 21st-century touches as the latest Macintosh computer on what would be a rather large wooden office desk, if Benson weren’t so darned large himself as to dwarf it. The room is stuffed to the gills with awards, books, Route 66 memorabilia, posters and pictures of Benson and various notables and heroes from all walks of celebrity. And guitars. Lots of guitars.
  
  “You can never have too many guitars,” Benson declares. Then, after a pause, he adds with a wink, “Especially if they’re free.”
  
  The guitars aren’t just for show. Benson is an awesomely facile and sharp guitarist in the old-school jazzman style. Just listen to his leads on “Right Or Wrong” and the instrumental “South” on Willie & the Wheel to hear it in spades. But since he continues to find great players and give them the musical spotlight, as Wills did with his Texas Playboys, Benson doesn’t get the recognition he deserves as a six-stringer. It doesn’t bother him, however.
  
  “I don’t have any ego in this, except for the ego that’s onstage every night — that fulfills me,” Benson explains. “I want everyone in the band to share whatever they can. I’m a pretty big presence, both physically and musically, so I’m not worried about being overshadowed, by any means. But if they do (overshadow me), I’m proud of them.”
  
  Benson has ultra-competent help offstage as well. When he notes that AATW is now “doing better than ever,” credit must be given to Bismeaux business manager Peter Schwarz, a Harvard MBA. But Benson himself does a hell of a lot more at the office than just check his mail. “Ray has more inner drive than anybody I’ve ever met, and the ability to bounce back from any setback and keep his eye on his goals,” notes pianist Floyd Domino, who played in the Wheel from its early- to mid-years and remains a primary auxiliary player.
  
  “Ray is the first one in the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night,” notes Finney. “He’s booked the gigs, carried the equipment and driven the tour bus, and when that’s done, he gets on the phone and talks with record companies about record deals.”
  
  Jokes Benson, “I’ve been on every label in the business, some of them twice.” And it’s not far from the truth (AATW was signed twice apiece to both Epic and Capitol). There was a five-year spell in the early ’80s, though, when Benson was without a record deal. But then again, Asleep at the Wheel’s success has always been kind of a fluke, and more a testament to perseverance and commitment to musical craft than commercial appeal. The band has only had two Top 20 hits: “The Letter that Johnny Walker Read,” which hit No. 10 on the country charts in 1975, and the 1987 No. 17 hit, “House of Blue Lights.” Rarely, if ever, has so much that has gone on for so long been built from so little mainstream exposure.
  
  “Ray has always had that ability to stick his hand up a pig’s ass and pull out pearls,” jokes Finney, who’s seen his boss drive the Wheel through thick and thin. Of course, he knows as well as anyone that Benson’s long career isn’t just based on luck, or even business smarts. Chart hits by flash-in-the-pan stars are a dime a dozen, but bands as steeped in musical history and virtuosity as Asleep at the Wheel are few and far between. Not for nothing did Willie Nelson, Ray Price and Merle Haggard recruit the Wheel to serve as their backing band for their Last of the Breed tour two years ago. And for the same reason, the thought of an icon like Nelson recording his own album of western swing music with any other band on earth would have seemed, well … unthinkable.
  
  Some occurrences are just meant to be.
  
  The concept of Willie & the Wheel dates back to not long after AATW hit Austin, a city whose music scene had caught the ear of producer Jerry Wexler. He had signed Nelson to Atlantic Records and proposed the pairing. But then Nelson moved to Columbia Records and the idea languished. For three decades.
  
  In 2003, a retired Wexler called Benson to tell him he was sending him the western swing albums from his vinyl collection. When they arrived, Benson noticed some songs had the initials “WN” by their titles. Wexler later explained to Benson that they were the songs he had initially selected for the Nelson/Wheel collaboration some 30 years before.
  
  After 2007’s Last of the Breed tour, Wexler had put a bug in the ears of Willie and his manager, Mark Rothbaum, about the long-dormant notion of recording Nelson singing western swing tunes with the Wheel. They called Benson, and the project finally got under way, with Wexler overseeing the song selection and arrangements. Before Wexler died last August, he heard the re-cordings and heartily app-roved. And now Benson has a Willie Nelson album in his Bismeaux Records catalog.
  
  On a balmy February evening at the tail end of the their tour together, Nelson and the Wheel are taping an episode of Austin City Limits. It’s an historic occasion, as Nelson starred in ACL’s pilot and the Wheel was featured in the premiere episode of the program’s first season. (The Wheel has made a record 11 appearances on the long-running concert show.)
  
  Before the taping, guests aboard Nelson’s Honeysuckle Rose bus (parked in the loading-dock area next to the Communications Building at the University of Texas) witness a priceless Willie moment: country music’s most famous links enthusiast playing a game of Wii golf with his wife, Annie. She beats him, delightedly winning money for a shopping spree. Nelson fares far better on the stereo, which is playing the live recording of his two-night stand with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at the Lincoln Center in New York. The way Nelson’s voice swings just behind the beat like Sinatra’s (one of his vocal heroes) and swoops in and around the melody like a sax only underscores the point proven later that evening: Willie Nelson is a jazz singer, and one of the greatest, to boot.
  
  Sure, he’s a country singer — one of the finest, we all know that. But even as he sings country, Nelson does it like a jazzman. And he loves singing like a jazzman, something Benson and Wexler understood. After the song on the stereo ends, Nelson breaks into a big smile. “[That] was so much fun,” he recalls fondly. And when he takes the stage with the Wheel — augmented by two horn players — later that night, that grin of delight returns to his rugged countenance.
  
  As Finney recounts, “While we were on the tour, he told Rothbaum, ‘Hey man — this is the best country & western package on the road today. And I have the best seat.’ How long has it been since he had 14 musicians behind him and he could point to any one of them at any time, and they would deliver the mail?”
  
  * * *
  
  “If you stick around long enough and have any kind of impact and can stay in the game,” Benson observes, “you’re considered a … something.”
  
  Legend, perhaps?
  
  “Yeah — love the word,” he says with a grin. “But it’s also about being able to change and be adaptable.
  
  “You’ve got to have youth,” he continues, referring to the Wheel’s many personnel changes over the years. “And for me, change is good. I think that’s part of the deal, is that you’ve got to have changes. It’s important for me so that I don’t get bored.”
  
  Hence, AATW again has a female singer, just as it did when it started with O’Connell. Elizabeth McQueen joined the family after moving to Austin to forge a music career and making a name for herself on two albums with her own band, the Firebrands.
  
  “I’m in awe of Ray,” McQueen says. “I led a band myself and have some insight into what it takes to do so. Then I joined and found out he really knows what it takes. He is up every morning and on the phone. When you work with somebody like that, you get to do so many cool things, like sing with Willie Nelson.”
  
  “I always wanted to have another girl singer and I couldn’t find anyone,” Benson notes. “She’s perfect. And she’s married to the drummer, so we save on the cost of a separate hotel room for her!”
  
  McQueen’s not the only young gun in the band these days; 14-year-old fiddler Ruby?Jane Smith has also been featured in the lineup at recent performances. But not everyone’s a newbie. For all the musicians who have ridden the Wheel and spun off , Ray Benson of late they’ve also been sticking around. David Sanger, fiddler and singer Jason Roberts and Finney have all stepped off the bus for a spell, only to return. And both bassist David Miller and Roberts are not that far behind Sanger in their tenures.
  
  “I have a rule,” Sanger declares. “I will not work for anyone who is not smarter than me. Every day I learn something new from Ray Benson. I am constantly challenged.”
  
  The Wheel has kept turning for almost four decades, and Benson has managed himself for close to 30 of those years. Though he knows how to get a record deal, he’s happy on his own — and Bismeaux Records has a growing catalog, including Benson’s 2003 solo album, Beyond Time. As a producer, he has worked with acts like James Hand, Don Walser, Suzy Bogguss, Aaron?Watson, Dale Watson and, more recently, Carolyn?Wonderland (who he also manages). He also discovered Billy Gilman and launched his recording career.
  
  AATW is no longer a cottage industry but a thriving enterprise that may have struggled over the years — playing old-school music is hardly the easy path to music-industry success — but by now looks as if it could keep rolling for years to come. After years of ups and downs, lineup changes, record deals won and lost and a few circumferences of the earth in road miles, Asleep at the Wheel started moving into overdrive in the ’90s.
  
  The catalyst for the resurgence was nothing more than Benson doing what?Benson does best:?playing Bob Wills music and working the Rolodex. In 1993, Asleep at the Wheel released A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys — an all-star affair that featured the Wheel teaming with some of the biggest names in country music, including Garth Brooks, Dolly?Parton,?George Strait and Vince Gill. The collection climbed to No. 35 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, netted three Grammys and set the stage for a 1999 sequel, Ride with Bob. That release, guest-starring the Dixie Chicks, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, Reba McEntire, Clint Black and others, won three Grammys of its own and peaked at No. 24 on the country chart.
  
  And the Wheel’s popularity continues to grow. The Benson-helmed A Ride with Bob play sold out three nights at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the recent tour with Nelson behind Willie & the Wheel took the band to prestigious theaters across the country, as well as onto the Late Show with David Letterman. Benson and Co. have also played a slew of symphony shows in recent years and recorded a CD with the Fort Worth Symphony, all of which is a long way from the honky-tonks where AATW spent many years slogging it out.
  
  And now, as the first decade of the new century comes to a close, AATW continues to win new fans and break ground, as active and vital a creative force as ever.
  
  No one is more surprised by this than Benson. “I actually thought that after 10 years — because I was pretty realistic about what this is all about — I would open up a little music store and teach guitar or maybe be a DJ,”?he says. “I’d have a 10-year career and then parlay that into something else.”
  
  Not only has his run exceeded his modest expectations, now the next generation is ready to keep it going. Benson’s son, Sam “Lightning” Seifert, manages Bismeaux Studios and is its chief engineer. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As Dave Alvin recently noted after recording with his all-female band, the Guilty Women, at Bismeaux, “The kid’s a genius.”
  
  “My deal with Jason (Roberts) and Sam both is that if y’all want to, I would love for you to keep it going on for another 40 years,” Benson says. “And it wouldn’t be like a ghost band. My greatest ability, which I believe I’ve demonstrated, is to gather good people around me. I have my talents, but the best thing is that I can lead people.”
  
  Still, even with the talent pool Benson has gathered around him, he’s not yet ready to step out of the driver’s seat. Despite being an active pro-am golfer who’s been known to pull the bus over at a particularly good course on the way to shows to shoot 18 holes, trading a life in music for a retirement spent on the links is not in his immediate plans.
  
  “I ain’t going anywhere,”?Benson concludes, “but you never know. People ask me, ‘When are you going to quit?’ I say, ‘When I can’t do it anymore.’”
  
  (Additional contributions by Lynne Margolis.)
  

• Reinventing the Wheel CD Review [+ Show ]
  

  by DOUG FREEMAN Asleep at the Wheel Reinventing the Wheel (Bismeaux) While it may not be rei... by DOUG FREEMAN
  
  Asleep at the Wheel
  Reinventing the Wheel (Bismeaux)
  
  While it may not be reinventing their signature style, Asleep at the Wheel's first album of new material in almost a decade does swing full circle by returning to their early formation of tri-shared lead vocals. Ray Benson's comfortable drawl finds appropriate complements in Jason Roberts' countrified twang and Elizabeth McQueen's saucy jazz verve, the three encompassing the typically broad extension of the group's Texas swing roots, though the vocal trio unfortunately only unites behind 1999 Ride With Bob holdover "Misery." The Blind Boys of Alabama add an exuberantly haphazard call-and-response chorus to opener "The Devil Ain't Lazy" before Benson kicks into the jive-jumping blues of Mose Allison's "Your Mind Is on Vacation." Roberts' original "Am I Right (or Amarillo)" gives the clever adage a honky-tonk spin, his fiddle rollicking alongside Eddie Rivers' steel guitar, while McQueen reworks "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" with a debutante's cheeky aloofness. Closing with Guy Clark's "The Cape" lends Reinventing the Wheel its greatest divergence simply for the song's fairly straightforward rendering, though Benson's seasoned voice adds a touching and sincere nostalgia to the band's usual freewheeling antics.

Setlist

The Wheel's set varies each and every night with Ray Benson calling out the songs from stage. Here are some songs you may hear at one of our shows. Please contact for rider and stage plot.

Hesitation Blues
It's A Good Day
Basin Street Blues
Take Me Back to Tulsa
Am I Right (Or Amarillo)
Get Your Kicks on Route 66
Big Balls in Cowtown
The Devil Ain't Lazy
House of Blue Lights
Miles and Miles of Texas
Choo Choo Ch' Boogie
New San Antonio Rose
Old Cow Hand
The Letter (That Johnny Walker Read)
Cherokee Maiden
Sittin' On Top of The World
Going Away Party
Misery
Hot Rod Lincoln
Faded Love
Hot Like That
The Cape
Milk Cow Blues
Bring It On Down To My House
This Ol' Cowboy
Boogie Back to Texas
Truck Driver's Bluess

Basic Requirements

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