Can a wheel reinvent itself while it’s still rolling?
Sounds like an impossible task -- but you never want to say “impossible” to Asleep at the Wheel, the famed western-swing, boogie, and roots-music outfit that’s, amazingly, still on the upswing. That’s saying something, too, considering the group’s been around for more than 37 years, turning out an incredible three dozen albums while playing an unrelenting schedule of one-nighters that would make a vaudevillian dizzy.
“In terms of how many people we played for, what we accomplished, and how much money we made – well, we didn’t make any money, but we grossed a lot – ‘06 was absolutely our best year ever,” says Wheel founder and front man Ray Benson with a chuckle.
And even as the Wheel rolled on, the reinvention had begun. You could see and hear it in their live shows, where new vocalist Elizabeth McQueen invited comparison with the classic female vocalists of the band’s earlier era, and fiddler-singer Jason Roberts gave the band a second male lead voice to complement Benson’s immediately identifiable baritone.
These days, the reinvented Wheel is also rolling down a couple of new avenues. One involves to the critically acclaimed musical play, A Ride With Bob, which stars Benson as himself -- encountering the ghost of Bob Wills on a tour bus – Roberts as the young Wills, and McQueen as Minnie Pearl and other famed entertainment figures, with the rest of the band members featured as well. Originally designed as a one-off celebration of Wills’ 100th birthday in ’05, A Ride With Bob quickly took on a life of its own and, notes Benson, “it’s absolutely a part of what we do now.”
Another innovation in the Wheel’s career is an ever-increasing series of philharmonic concerts, in which the group plays a concert with a symphony orchestra. Begun in 2003 in Texas, this particular facet of the band will also be showcased before concertgoers in California and Colorado in 2007.
In addition, the band’s new look is spotlighted in a new disc – called, appropriately enough, Reinventing the Wheel. The 12-cut celebration of American – particularly Southwestern – music features guest appearances by gospel’s Blind Boys of Alabama (splendidly reworking of the old Wills tune “The Devil Ain’t Lazy”) and banjoist Rolf Sieker, along with lead vocals by McQueen and Roberts as well as Benson, whose voice has been synonymous with Asleep at the Wheel for decades.
“I carried the load for many, many years, but I just wanted to have a band, as opposed to Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel,” Benson explains. “That’s what we had in the ‘70s – a band, a revue kind of deal, which was the whole concept. But trying to replace a Chris O’Connell was very difficult. And then Elizabeth walks up, and boom – here’s my girl singer. And then I kept pushing Jason, both through the play and through the band, saying, `Man, you’ve got talent. You can sing. You’ve got the golden ear – just apply it to your singing and songwriting.’”
Roberts, who’s been the Wheel’s full-time fiddler since 1994, welcomed the opportunity to be a part of the revamped, revue-style Wheel. He even landed one of his own compositions on the new disc. Called “Am I Right (or Amarillo),” it is, he says, “kind of a little tip of the hat to Loretta Lynn.”
“I think everybody got a chance to put their two cents in, and bring to the table what they had, ” he adds, referring to the process that led to Reinventing the Wheel. “God bless Ray Benson for allowing us to do that. We all know that it’s his band, and he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do.”
What the band does on this disc is something few others could. In addition to original numbers from Benson (the playfully randy “Hot Like That”) and Roberts, the band pulls its Reinventing the Wheel tracks from a dizzying variety of sources, stretching from Tin Pan Alley to Texas – and makes every one of them its own. Among the songwriters represented on Reinventing are blues-jazz great Mose Allison (“Your Mind Is on Vacation”), the Marshall Tucker Band’s Toy Caldwell (“This Old Cowboy,” a postmodern cowboy tune driven home by Benson’s world-weary vocals and the propulsive drumming of David Sanger), jump-blues innovator Louis Jordan (“Saturday Night Fish Fry”) and outlaw-country legend Guy Clark (whom Benson calls his favorite poet), contributing an exquisite fable of faith and belief called “The Cape.” Roberts and McQueen recall the classic era of Tennessee Ernie Ford and Kay Star with a spirited team vocal on “You’re My Sugar,” and McQueen takes center stage on a couple of American-songbook classics, “I Don’t Care if the Sun Don’t Shine” and “I’m an Old Cow Hand (from the Rio Grande).”
Notes McQueen, “One of the things about Asleep at the Wheel is that they always have great musicians. That’s what they’re known for. So for them to ask me to join and then to keep me in the band, and to let me step out a little more and stand in the shoes of Chris O’Connell and Maryann Price, who were amazing singers – that’s an incredible honor. It’s above and beyond my greatest expectations.”
So, whether your next encounter with Asleep at the Wheel is at a dance or concert, via the new disc, or at a live production of A Ride with Bob, you’ll be witnessing something very special -- a band that’s not only been entertaining audiences with its own genre-busting music for nearly four decades, but also a group that’s never been afraid to try something new -- including a reinvention, inspired by the past, that rolls joyously toward a long and shining future. –John Wooley

Asleep at the Wheel History

1970 Band forms in Paw Paw, West Virginia, 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

1973 Debut album Comin’ Right At Ya released by United Artists
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 appears on the first regularly scheduled “Austin City Limits” (and have appeared ten times since)

1977 Voted Best Country & Western Band by Rolling Stone
Awarded “Touring Band of the Year” by Academy of Country Music, tours Europe with Emmylou Harris

1978 Their sixth Grammy™ nomination, for the country instrumental “One O’Clock Jump,” wins, setting in motion eight more Grammy™ wins since.
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”

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 with over 3 million miles is retired.

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 & 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 (and has since performed it regularly around the country)

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 gain critical acclaim.

2006 “A Ride With Bob” sells out the Kennedy Center, with President & First Lady attending

2007 Band releases “Reinventing the Wheel,” their first feature CD in several years
Band serves as band for “Last of the Breed” Tour, featuring Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price

Additional Facts

• Ray Benson is 6’7” tall and wears size 16 boots
• The roster of former and current members of Asleep at the Wheel is 80+ and includes many of the finest musicians in the business who have gone on to perform and record with artists such as Bob Dylan, George Strait, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Ryan Adams and many others.
• Asleep at the Wheel has released 25+ feature albums (not including compilations, re-releases)
• Ray Benson regularly provides voice-over talent for national advertising campaigns and radio station imaging. Ray is also an active industry leader, serving as a Trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Chairman of the SIMS Foundation in Austin TX, and member of Board of Directors for several other Austin-based non-profits.
• Ray owns Bismeaux Studio in Austin TX, and has produced projects for Willie Nelson, Pam Tillis, Carolyn Wonderland, Aaron Watson, James Hand, Suzy Bogguss, Don Walser, Dale Watson and many others.