Asleep At The Wheel

Since the early 1970s, Asleep at the Wheel has been the most important force in keeping the sound of Western swing alive. They've earned critical praise throughout their lengthy career, not simply preserving classic sounds but updating the music, keeping it a living, breathing art form. The group has gone through myriad personnel changes (over 80 members have passed through their ranks), but frontman <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Ray Benson</a> has held it together for since 1970, keeping Asleep at the Wheel a going concern devoted to classic-style Western swing. 1973's debut LP Comin' Right at Ya caught their sound fully formed, 1993's A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys was a joyous homage to their hero, 2007's Reinventing the Wheel found <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Benson</a> and the gang in high spirits, and 2021's Half a Hundred Years was a star-studded celebration of their golden anniversary.

Singer/guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Benson</a> was born <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Ray Benson Seifert</a> and grew up listening to a variety of music in Philadelphia, especially jazz. He formed Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970, along with longtime friend <a href="spotify:artist:49zbNhoxeEEKbk9a5YAmWP">Lucky Oceans</a> (steel guitar) and <a href="spotify:artist:7i8kPgYFR2K3vDUNsWTXsK">Leroy Preston</a> (rhythm guitar). They soon added a female singer in <a href="spotify:artist:5fJ23krF2LH00QVoiAtXtH">Chris O'Connell</a>, who was fresh out of high school. Initially, the group played straight-ahead country in local venues, but quickly switched to Western swing when they discovered the music through <a href="spotify:artist:2ptmyXoL7poH6Zq62h1QT9">Merle Haggard</a> (specifically his <a href="spotify:artist:3YeRGjR8sa1PHjTUMjqsQg">Bob Wills</a> tribute album) and eclectic country-rockers <a href="spotify:artist:4KtaHyqLFlKKb7aghnWBfE">Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen</a>. In fact, <a href="spotify:artist:6MM9O5yu0cn6yqvJTaUptm">Commander Cody</a> helped the group sign with his own manager, Joe Kerr, who convinced them to move to San Francisco in late 1971. They subsequently added keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:0uv4ZbFiycvipJyzZiMIA2">Floyd Domino</a>, and secured a residency at Berkeley's Longbranch Saloon. Praise from <a href="spotify:artist:44NX2ffIYHr6D4n7RaZF7A">Van Morrison</a> in a Rolling Stone article helped them land a record deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22United+Artists%22">United Artists</a>, which released their debut album, Comin' Right at Ya, in 1973.

In 1974, Asleep at the Wheel relocated to the roots music haven of Austin, Texas, and also switched to the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Epic%22">Epic</a> label. Their self-titled label debut appeared that same year, and their cover of <a href="spotify:artist:2nRbxpnBMMbtMBWH5QdqH2">Louis Jordan</a>'s "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" became their first single to hit the country charts. Afterwards, they added fiddler Lisa Silver and trumpeter Bobby Womack, and hopped labels again to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Capitol%22">Capitol</a>. Released in 1975, Texas Gold was their breakthrough album, climbing into the country Top Ten and producing their only Top Ten hit on the country singles charts, "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read." That year they performed on the first non-pilot episode of Austin City Limits, and although they continued to experience personnel shifts, they turned out a string of excellent albums over the rest of the decade: Wheelin' and Dealin' (1976), The Wheel (1977), and Collision Course (1978), the latter of which featured their first Grammy winner in the instrumental cover of <a href="spotify:artist:2jFZlvIea42ZvcCw4OeEdA">Count Basie</a>'s "One O'Clock Jump."

Asleep at the Wheel moved to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22MCA%22">MCA</a> for 1980's Framed, but all was not well: founding member <a href="spotify:artist:49zbNhoxeEEKbk9a5YAmWP">Lucky Oceans</a> left the group that year, and <a href="spotify:artist:5fJ23krF2LH00QVoiAtXtH">Chris O'Connell</a> took a leave of absence to start a family not long after. Plus, the group was heavily in debt, forcing the bandmembers to work on commercials and movie soundtracks. The financial problems conspired to keep them off record for the next few years, and when they returned on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Dot%2FMCA%22">Dot/MCA</a> with a self-titled album in 1985, they were virtually ignored. Following the small-label release Pasture Prime later that year, <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Benson</a> did some moonlighting as a producer, and soon managed to get a second shot with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Epic%22">Epic</a>. By now, <a href="spotify:artist:5fJ23krF2LH00QVoiAtXtH">O'Connell</a> had returned, and the new lineup featured fiddler <a href="spotify:artist:2N4kgBJtmWONgfNUCwze1A">Larry Franklin</a>, steel guitarist John Ely, pianist/accordionist Tim Alexander, saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:1BjOvhmndwFqdfTVQxs6KJ">Mike Francis</a>, bassist Jon Mitchell, and drummer David Sanger. This unit recorded the major comeback effort Asleep at the Wheel 10 in 1987, which brought them back to the Top 20 of the country album and singles charts (the latter via "House of Blue Lights") for the first time in over a decade. Additionally, the album's "String of Pars" won them their second Grammy for Best Country Instrumental, and featured contributions from fiddle legend and onetime Texas Playboy <a href="spotify:artist:3MNxoB8Ybc8SW79rnxy67T">Johnny Gimble</a>. The 1988 follow-up, Western Standard Time, continued their momentum, winning another Best Country Instrumental Grammy for "Sugarfoot Rag."

In 1990, Asleep at the Wheel moved to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Arista%22">Arista</a> and recorded Keepin' Me Up Nights, which flopped in comparison to its two predecessors. Major personnel turnover ensued, with <a href="spotify:artist:5fJ23krF2LH00QVoiAtXtH">O'Connell</a> leaving a second time, and <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Benson</a> regrouped with <a href="spotify:artist:1BjOvhmndwFqdfTVQxs6KJ">Francis</a>, Sanger, fiddler Ricky Turpin, bassist David Miller, and steel guitarist/Dobroist <a href="spotify:artist:1Geygkl2ueTUPSA6EkUaj4">Cyndi Cashdollar</a>. They issued two albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Liberty%22">Liberty</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Capitol%22">Capitol</a>, the acclaimed, guest-laden A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (1993; featuring the Grammy-winning instrumental "Red Wing") and The Wheel Keeps on Rollin' (1995). Their next major studio project, Ride with Bob, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DreamWorks%22">DreamWorks</a> in 1999 and featured fiddler Jason Roberts (a young relative of <a href="spotify:artist:3MNxoB8Ybc8SW79rnxy67T">Johnny Gimble</a>) and pianist/second fiddler Chris Booher. It was the group's second explicit tribute to <a href="spotify:artist:3YeRGjR8sa1PHjTUMjqsQg">Bob Wills</a>, and it attracted even more positive attention than the first, winning multiple Grammys and drawing non-country collaborators like <a href="spotify:artist:2dogRElUKV20C2khRHqjRc">the Manhattan Transfer</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0LIll5i3kwo5A3IDpipgkS">Squirrel Nut Zippers</a>. An album project with <a href="spotify:artist:5W5bDNCqJ1jbCgTxDD0Cb3">Willie Nelson</a>, Willie and the Wheel, appeared in 2009, followed by It's a Good Day, a collaboration with Texas Playboy great <a href="spotify:artist:6FYZFgCHs13F5JCGfp1nQ6">Leon Rausch</a>, in 2010.

The hard-touring Asleep at the Wheel next released not one but two albums documenting their entertaining stage show -- 2012's Miles and Miles of Texas and 2014's Having a Party Live. In 2015, <a href="spotify:artist:2G6E8Q9UTzDIhoawhJm33M">Ray Benson</a> published an autobiography, Comin' Right at Ya (co-authored by David Menconi), chronicling his life and the history of Asleep at the Wheel. That same year, Asleep at the Wheel released their third <a href="spotify:artist:3YeRGjR8sa1PHjTUMjqsQg">Bob Wills</a> tribute album, Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The album included a wide variety of guest performers, from <a href="spotify:artist:2ptmyXoL7poH6Zq62h1QT9">Merle Haggard</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0zlJDQgqnr9AocrH9gs1Es">Lyle Lovett</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:196lKsA13K3keVXMDFK66q">the Avett Brothers</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4DBi4EYXgiqbkxvWUXUzMi">Old Crow Medicine Show</a>. Still the King earned strong reviews and received a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. Asleep at the Wheel returned with New Routes, a collection of largely new material, in 2018; it showcased new fiddler Katie Shore. The group celebrated their 50th anniversary with the release of 2021's Half a Hundred Years, an album that included guest appearances from friends and fans <a href="spotify:artist:5W5bDNCqJ1jbCgTxDD0Cb3">Willie Nelson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5vngPClqofybhPERIqQMYd">George Strait</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5s6TJEuHTr9GR894wc6VfP">Emmylou Harris</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0zlJDQgqnr9AocrH9gs1Es">Lyle Lovett</a>, as well as contributions from three members from the original lineup, <a href="spotify:artist:5fJ23krF2LH00QVoiAtXtH">Chris O’Connell</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:49zbNhoxeEEKbk9a5YAmWP">Lucky Oceans</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7i8kPgYFR2K3vDUNsWTXsK">Leroy Preston</a>.~ Steve Huey & Mark Deming