- in Entertainment News by Mike
Asleep At The Wheel’s Bob Wills Tribute Released
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STILL THE KING: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF BOB WILLS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS IS OUT NOW
PERFORMING ON THE “LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN” TONIGHT
RELEASING LIMITED EDITION SIGNED 7” WITH BONUS TRACKS FROM THE ALBUM FOR RECORD STORE DAY
ADDITIONAL TOUR DATES CONFIRMED
Nine-time Grammy award-winners Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel’s newest Bob Wills tribute album, Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, is out now on Bismeaux Records. The critically acclaimed album debuted at #1 most added at Americana Radio, #1 country album on Amazon and #9 country album on iTunes. In celebration of the release, the band is performing on the “Late Show with David Letterman” tonight. Currently on a full U.S. tour, the band confirms additional summer dates including a performance at Bob Wills Day in Turkey, TX on April 25 and at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic in Austin, TX. Please see full tour dates and track listing below. Tickets for select shows are available at asleepatthewheel.com/tour. For Record Store Day on April 18, the band is releasing a limited edition signed 7” with new bonus tracks from the album: “New Spanish Two Step” with Willie Nelson and “The Devil Ain’t Lazy” with The Blind Boys of Alabama. The full album is available via PledgeMusic, Amazon and iTunes.
The LP features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favorites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett, Kat Edmonson, Robert Earl Keen and Tommy Emmanuel, among many others. “The idea was to get people who were contemporary artists to play the Bob Wills music the way that we play it, which is close to the original,” says Ray Benson, frontman of Asleep at the Wheel. “We don’t resurrect it, we play close to it, with our own inspiration.”
For over 40 years, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel have been the chief practitioners, conspirators and caretakers of Western swing, carrying Wills’ traditions well into the 21st century, reaching both their contemporaries and the next generation of artists inspired by the great bandleader. This album marks the band’s third full-length Bob Wills tribute album following 1999’s Ride with Bob and 1993’s A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills, with four Grammy awards and over 500,000 copies sold collectively.
Widely considered “The King of Western Swing,” Bob Wills (1905-1975) and his Texas Playboys performed thousands of shows across the United Sates for nearly six decades and recorded prolifically in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s. Early stars of American country music, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. “After 45 years of traveling and playing, it still amazes me how well this music, born in the 1920s and ‘30s, thrives in the present day,” says Benson. “The artists playing and singing on this collection range in age from folks in their 20s to former Texas Playboys 92-year-old Billy Briggs and 86-year-old Leon Rausch…certain evidence that Western swing music is alive and well as it cruises through the next millennium.” Bob Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2007.
Based in Austin, Asleep at the Wheel formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970. Since their inception, the band has won nine Grammy awards, released more than 20 studio albums and charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. In 1972, the band signed their first record deal after Van Morrison mentioned they “play great country music” in an interview in Rolling Stone. Their debut record, Comin’ Right At Ya, was released in 1973 on United Artists. The release of Texas Gold in 1975 brought the band national recognition, with the single “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” becoming a top-ten country hit. The band has been awarded “Touring Band of the Year” (CMAs, 1976) and the “Lifetime Achievement in Performance” (Americana Music Awards 2009). In 2010, they earned a Grammy nomination in the newly minted Best Americana Album category for their critically acclaimed Willie & The Wheel, on Bismeaux Records.
Owned by Ray Benson, Bismeaux Records has won “Best Local Record Label” three years consecutively in the Austin Music Awards. Between 2005 and 2012, Ray Benson wrote, produced and starred in the Bob Wills musical A Ride With Bob. The production sold 70,000 tickets in 18 cities nationwide including the Kennedy Center in 2006. In 2007, Benson performed with Carrie Underwood & Johnny Gimble on the Grammy Awards Telecast in a special Grammy Salute to Bob Wills.
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL U.S. TOUR DATES
April 16 Dallas, TX Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
April 17 Kansas City, MO Knuckleheads
April 18 Iola, KS Bowlus Fine Arts & Cultural Center
April 25 Turkey, TX Bob Wills Day
April 25 Roscoe, TX The Lumberyard
April 30 New Braunfels, TX Gruene Hall
May 1 New Braunfels, TX Gruene Hall
May 2 Spring, TX The Centrum
May 9 Canadian, TX Canadian River Music Fest
May 15 Angels Camp, CA Calaveras County Fair
May 16 Grass Valley, CA Center for the Arts
May 17 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
May 18 Napa, CA City Winery
May 20 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
May 23 Bakersfield, CA Bakersfield Rockin’ Country Festival
May 25 Phoenix, AZ Musical Instrument Museum
May 29 Alto, NM Spencer Theater for P.A.
May 30 Taos, NM KTAOS Solar Center
June 12 Austin, TX Republic of Texas Motorcycle Rally
June 20 Eldon, MO Shawnee Buff Winery
June 21 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theater
June 22 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
June 25 Ridgefield, CT The Ridgefield Playhouse
June 26 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater
July 4 Austin, TX Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic
July 16 Stephenville, TX Texstar Ford Summer Nights
August 22 Nicasio, CA Rancho Nicasio
STILL THE KING: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF BOB WILLS
AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS TRACKLIST
1. Intro—Texas Playboy Theme (with Leon Rausch)
2. I Hear Ya Talkin’ (with Amos Lee)
3. The Girl I Left Behind Me (with The Avett Brothers)
4. Trouble In Mind (with Lyle Lovett)
5. Keeper Of My Heart (with Merle Haggard and Emily Gimble)
6. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (with Kat Edmonson)
7. Tiger Rag (with Old Crow Medicine Show)
8. What’s The Matter With The Mill (with Pokey LaFarge)
9. Navajo Trail (with Willie Nelson and The Quebe Sisters)
10. Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight (with The Del McCoury Band)
11. Faded Love (with The Time Jumpers)
12. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) (with George Strait)
13. I Had Someone Else Before I Had You (with Elizabeth Cook)
14. My Window Faces The South (with Brad Paisley)
15. Time Changes Everything (with Buddy Miller)
16. A Good Man Is Hard To Find (with Carrie Rodriguez and Emily Gimble)
17. Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas (with Robert Earl Keen and Ray Benson)
18. Brain Cloudy Blues (with Jamey Johnson and Ray Benson)
19. Bubbles In My Beer (with The Devil Makes Three)
20. It’s All Your Fault (with Katie Shore)
21. Three Guitar Special (with Tommy Emmanuel, Brent Mason and Billy Briggs)
22. Bob Wills Is Still The King (with Shooter Jennings, Randy Rogers and Reckless Kelly)