Winning nine Grammy Awards and becoming a charter member of Nashville royalty hasn’t changed the work ethic of the members of the country-western swing band Asleep at the Wheel.
If you go
Asleep at the Wheel with Kathryn Caine opening
Where: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Info: $35; ticketmaster.com
The band, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, is back with a national concert tour this spring before it again presents “A Ride With Bob,” the award-winning musical about Bob Wills, one of the fathers of western swing. “[Alseep at the Wheel] started in D.C. That’s where we had our first gig,” Asleep’s founder/leader Ray Benson said of a long-closed venue at L’Enfant Plaza. “We’ve had 40 years of Asleep at the Wheel, and now we’re blessed to have great musicians and the best singers we’ve had in our history.”
Perhaps one reason the band attracts and keeps such talented musicians and singers is that it keeps reinventing itself with different projects. In “A Ride with Bob” — which debuted in 2005 and will return to the Kennedy Center in the fall — Benson plays himself boarding a bus to a gig in Tulsa, Okla. The driver is Wills’ ghost, which takes Benson on a tour of his life. Members of Asleep at the Wheel are among those in the 20-member cast. When the show was staged in Washington during 2006, President George W. and Laura Bush attended opening night.
“The play has been really cool and we’re going to record another album soon,” Benson said. “We [plan to include] a couple of Bob Wills’ tunes, some Cindy Walker songs and some Count Basie tunes.”
That’s a bit of a switch from last year, which was mainly devoted to “Willie and the Wheel,” an album and tour with Willie Nelson that was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award.
Like many musicians, Asleep at the Wheel has started its own record label. Benson talked about the niche audience that eagerly awaits recordings by Asleep at The Wheel and other artists who aren’t necessarily played on mainstream radio.
“Country radio is geared toward kids,” Benson said, talking about the tween listener. “I don’t mind that but it certainly has changed the format.”
Of course Asleep at the Wheel had a flirtation with the charts in 1975 when the song “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” climbed the charts.
“The problem was we were playing western swing and all kinds of great stuff and all [audiences] wanted to hear was that big hit,” Benson said of a song that he co-wrote with Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner in mind. “The point is you have got to be careful what you wish for.”
