A Few Moments With Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel
Ray Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel in 1969. Four years later, they landed their first record deal after Van Morrison mentioned them in a Rolling Stone interview. Since then, they’ve released another 20 albums and won nine Grammy awards. Their 2009 album, “Willie and the Wheel,” recorded with Willie Nelson, reached No. 13 on the country album charts and won the Grammy for Best Americana album. We caught up with Ray at home in Austin, just as he was heading out on a tour of Texas and Oklahoma.
CMC: Ray, you’re originally from Philadelphia, and Asleep at the Wheel was based in Oakland, California, when you made your first record. When did you relocate to Austin?
R.B.: Nineteen seventy-three. Willie Nelson told us to come, and man has this place grown. Its success as a live music venue has a lot to do with the variety you find here. The whole scene is based on creativity.
What is so different about Texas music?
In Texas, country music is still dance music. We play Western Swing — the style Bob Wills originated. Jazz, blues and country music are all Southern music. They all came out of the same melting pot. Western Swing puts them all together, while the music industry tries to segment them and keep them apart. Western Swing is complex and accessible at the same time. What Bob Wills recognized was that when you play in the Southwest and Midwest, you need the rhythm so people can dance. Dancing shaped the music. We play concerts, but we love it best when folks get up and dance. I remember sitting with Roy Acuff backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. He said, ‘You know, Bob Wills was a good friend of mine, and I loved his music, but I played in the South. Church halls, places like that. You couldn’t dance there, so my music just turned out different because of that.’
Was Bob Wills the first country artist you heard and loved?
No, it was Hank Williams, and I just want to call out that 15-disc set that Time Life did of Hank’s Mother’s Best Recordings. That just has to be one of the greatest box sets of all time.
You must have worked with a lot of the Artists on our cruise.
Man, yeah. I play golf with Charley Pride. We’ve worked together MANY times. Great guy. I’ve known Larry and [The] Gatlins forever. I knew Chuck Mead back when he was with BR5-49, and we’ve been friends forever. And I knew Martina back when her husband was the sound guy for Garth Brooks and she was selling Garth T-shirts on the road.
Have you worked a cruise before?
Yes, but it’s been years. That’s why I’m looking forward to this one. That — and I get to spend a week with a bunch of friends I don’t see as often as I’d like. Maybe make some new friends.
Tell us about your new album, and will it be out by the time we sail?
It’s a tribute to Bob Wills. The last tribute we did to Bob was in 1999, so I don’t think we’ll do another one after this. I figure it’s been my mission to keep the music alive and introduce it to a younger audience, and we’ve done that for 44 years. There aren’t that many left now who knew him and worked with him, but everyone who knew him in his prime says Bob was the Elvis of his day. He had that kind of charisma. We’ve almost finished recording. We have guest appearances by Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Del McCoury and George Strait. Then we have some newer guys like Old Crow Medicine Show, The Avett Brothers, Kacey Musgraves, Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen, Buddy Miller, and Elizabeth Cook. The great thing about this album is that I have new guys in the band, so they’re all putting their own different spin on this timeless music. And, yes, we hope to have it available by the time we sail.
Since I started the band, we’ve had 100 members of Asleep at the Wheel. All I can guarantee is that the band will be great and you will have a good time, especially if you come prepared to dance.
Dance with Asleep at the Wheel during The Country Music Cruise 2015. Book your cabin.